Legacy of Hellsing
by FalconStorm
Summary: Integra believes she is the last Hellsing and the line will die with her, but when a Vatican representative shows up with an impossible proposal, she learns that she may have an heir after all.
1. A Proposal from the Vatican

Legacy of Hellsing

Summary: Integra believes she is the last Hellsing and the line will die with her, but when a Vatican representative shows up with an impossible proposal, she learns that she may have an heir after all.

OC alert: I do have an original character in this story. Yes, she's female. No, she won't make Alucard fall madly in love with her and boink like rabbits with him. She's only ten years old for crying out loud.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing, Integra, Seras OR Alucard (although, if he was up for sale on Ebay, I might sell myself into servitude to bid on him).

Note: You won't see it in this chapter, but this story will contain the obligatory blood and guts that follow Alucard wherever he goes. Please be aware that I can be rather graphic on these scenes. There will also be moderate to severe child abuse. If anything else comes up as I write this, I'll put a warning in the chapter containing it.

This fic is based on the manga cannon and takes place after the end. There will be no AxI action. Integra is in her fifties and that just makes me shudder, even if Alucard is technically in his…five hundreds… Also, I may deviate from some people's interpretation of the end of the manga. I'm going to place an explanation of what I'm working off of at the end of this chapter for anyone interested.

Please enjoy, and review. I live for reviews.

**Chapter 1: A Proposal from the Vatican**

Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing leaned back in her cushioned leather office chair and inhaled a lungful of fragrant smoke. The man sitting on the other side of her mahogany desk shifted, nose wrinkling in distaste as she exhaled a stream of white fumes at him. His austere black cassock with the rectangle of white at the throat set her hackles up, but she schooled her features to mild interest. To reveal her distaste for a man of the cloth would grant him a certain power over her in their discussion. She couldn't have that.

"What, exactly, does the Vatican want with Hellsing, this time?" Her voice ground out through a throat grown stiff with smoking and age. She fought back the urge to cough, which had become more prevalent in recent years. Damn her frail, human body. Its insistence in failing with age infuriated her, but alas, such was the human condition.

The man sitting across from her coughed with a pointed look at the cigar in her hand. Integra quirked the corner of her mouth in a small smirk and dragged another lungful from the offending object. The priest's eyes narrowed and his back straightened. The dim lighting in her office reflected off the shiny pate of his receding hair line. She'd never met this particular representative of her age old enemy before.

"My name is Father Whelkins and I've come to…negotiate."

Integra's eyes narrowed as she breathed out a stream of smoke. Since when did the Vatican negotiate with her family? Even during the destruction of London, when it would have behooved them to work alongside Hellsing to destroy the vampire army that Millennium had launched upon England, they had instead taken advantage of the situation to try to destroy her organization. The very thought of working with the Catholic Church to any end turned her stomach.

"What could you possibly have that I might want?"

Father Whelkins quirked a knowing smile and reached down to open the leather bag at his feet. Integra fought the urge to crush the cigar in her hand in frustration. She hated surprises. Absolutely loathed them.

The priest pulled out a folder and opened it. He glanced over the top of the manila paper as he plucked an item from among its contents and tossed it onto her desk.

It was a photo of a young girl. She stared out at the camera with a wary, hunted look on her face that belied the crisp blue dress and carefully curled blond hair. She couldn't be more than ten years old and her piercing blue eyes reminded Integra of the one she saw in the mirror every day.

"In short, Sir Integra, we have a Hellsing."

V^^^V

"It's not possible!"

Integra clenched her fist, glaring at the top of her desk. A polyglot of emotions roiled in her chest: disbelief, worry, betrayal…hope. The only one she dared give vent to was anger. How dare the Vatican claim to have a member of the Hellsing family in their possession, and then try to use her as a bargaining chip?

"I am the last Hellsing. The line dies with me!" Seras touched the picture on the desk, peering at it from her seat, but hesitant to pick it up. Integra could be somewhat unpredictable in such a volatile mood.

"She does look a bit like you," the young vampire offered up, flinching a little in anticipation of Integra's response.

"I _know_ that! Don't you think I noticed?"

"Y…yes, master."

"There's one way to know for certain." The deep voice rumbled out of the shadowy corner where Alucard watched the proceedings with a bemused smirk on his face.

"A paternity test, I suppose. But how many generations removed is she? Even if she _is_ a Hellsing, it might not show up in the test. We only have my own DNA to compare against." Integra felt the worst of her emotional storm seep away as she turned her formidable mind to solving the problem the Vatican representative had dropped in her lap.

"That's not what I meant." Alucard leaned forward into the light, his orange spectacles glinting. "I would know the taste of Hellsing blood anywhere, no matter how diluted."

Integra narrowed her eyes at him, hands clenching into fists. His smile widened into a grin as feral as it was maniacal.

"You swine! You ask me to offer up the blood of a young girl to your diabolical appetite?"

Alucard's grin widened, baring stark white fangs. He ducked his head to peer at her over the rim of his spectacles. Those livid red eyes glistened with humor.

"I only ask for a taste, my master."

"Silence! You'll not ask again."

"As you command, my master."

The grin on his face faded into a knowing smirk as he leaned back into the shadows, resting his gloved hands on the arms of the chair. He looked like a broken marionette, slouched bonelessly in the seat. Integra shivered at the reminder of the monster she kept on a leash, but she knew he would follow her orders, and he'd do it with a smile.

"Regardless of whether she is truly a Hellsing or not, I cannot…_will_ not meet their demands."

"What do they want?" Seras ventured to ask. Integra cut a glance at Alucard.

"They want me to hand mastership of Alucard over to Monsignor Heinkel."

"You can't!" Seras cried. Integra didn't even glance at her, instead keeping her eyes on Alucard to catch his reaction.

"I could never serve the Vatican. I am bound to Hellsing." From the tone of his voice, he could be giving a report on the weather. He betrayed neither fear nor interest. As usual, she had no idea what he really thought.

"I doubt that they want you to serve them. More likely, they plan to destroy you."

"No doubt." Alucard's smirk widened into that grin that held a touch of insanity in the corners of his mouth. He looked predatory and eager, like he wanted to see them try. A person of lesser confidence might think he wished to be free of his servitude to her, but Integra knew that look. He relished the idea of such a challenge.

"It's a moot point anyway. I don't know that the spell can be transferred at all, much less without _your_ cooperation."

"No, but should you order me to submit myself to their schemes, I would, of course, obey."

"Idiot! Don't be daft. I'll do nothing of the sort!" Integra slammed her palm on the desk, emphasizing her vehemence. The very thought of ordering Alucard to submit himself to the whims of her enemy twisted her gut into sick knots. Monster he might be, but he was _her_ monster. Alucard just flashed his grin at her, a smug look on his face that made her think he had known what her reaction would be all along.

Silence settled over them as Integra glared at her vampire servant and he grinned back.

"So…what are we going to do?" Seras asked, hesitant to break the silence but desperate to ease the tension between her masters. Integra didn't take her eyes off of Alucard.

"We're going to find out where the girl is and Alucard is going to take her away. Hellsing or not, I'll not leave an innocent child in their hands. Not when they're convinced that they can use her as leverage against us."

"Excellent," said Alucard, supreme satisfaction quirking the corners of his mouth.

**End notes:**

Okay, so, it's not obvious yet but Alucard is back to his old self, just not quite as strong. After doing some additional research on parts of the end of the manga that confused me (such as why he'd need to destroy all his lives…somehow, I completely missed the major's explanation for why Alucard disappeared the first time around), I found that the explanation that made the most sense was that he killed all the lives in him except Shrodinger so that Shrodinger would recognize himself again. That being the case, Alucard would not be able to take in any souls anymore and his power would be virtually non-existent except for being incredibly good at fleeing. (This is my take on it.)

The problem I have with this explanation is that, unless Alucard destroyed the original Vlad as well, leaving only Shrodinger, Shrodinger *still* wouldn't recognize himself. *If* that is what he did, then it wouldn't have been Alucard coming back to Integra. It would have been Shrodinger. So, for the purposes of this fanfic, I am assuming that Alucard destroyed Shrodinger as well, or at least found a way to oust him, so that the 'one' that Alucard left was himself. Yes, this is going to completely ignore his statement at the end that he is nowhere and everywhere, but as I said, unless the original Alucard is gone, it couldn't work anyway, to my mind.

I will apologize, now, to those who like being true to cannon. I like that too and *thought* I was following cannon when I first started this fic.

Now that I have a new take on it, I suddenly have a prequel fic percolating in my head for how Alucard gets his first few lives again and Integra re-sealing him because of the power he would be gaining. Hmm…might be fun.


	2. Child of the Devil

Yay! Two reviews. Being a virtual unknown, that makes me ecstatic. Since the fic really seems to be coming along, I'm going to go ahead and post the second chapter. Bit of a cliffhanger in this one, but I can promise with certainty that the next chapter will be up, probably this weekend if not sooner.

Disclaimer: As always, Hellsing and cast are not mine. Not making any money here. Move along.

Note: I am not Catholic, so if I get some of the titles and various and sundry Catholic details wrong, I apologize in advance. I do research on Google as much as I can, but the Catholic church is a vast and complex organism. If anything doesn't match, chalk it up to artistic freedom.

Please enjoy!

**Ch. 2: Child of the Devil**

Jezebel Iscariot crouched in the ventilation shaft, watching a pair of black clad priests stroll by beneath her. She held her small body as still as a ten year old child could, lest the creaking of metal give her position away. No one was looking for her yet, but they would miss her eventually, as always.

The priests passed by and the girl sighed a breath of relief. She would have to come out eventually, of course. She had to eat, but for the time being, she was free of the taunts of her peers in the orphanage and the disdainful looks of the priests that raised them.

Rolling onto her back, she closed her eyes and let her mind wander. She had dreamed again last night. She dreamed of darkness with red eyes blinking at her out of invisible surfaces. Hundreds of eyes. They watched her, judged her, and then the blood came. Always the blood.

The first few times she'd had the dream, she woke up screaming, but no one came to comfort her. They never did. In all reality, she didn't truly know what comfort was beyond a vague longing for someone to touch her, wrap their arms around her as the priests did for the other children when they experienced pain or fright.

What would it be like, to be looked upon with kindness? Her imagination came up empty. She had no basis for comparison.

In the distance, a voice called her name. Her back stiffened as she slipped into the silent stillness that had kept her hidden from the priests. It couldn't be time for the midday meal. Her stomach hadn't twisted into knots of hunger yet. Lessons weren't until the afternoon. What could they want with her, now?

V^^^V

"Where _is_ that child?" Sister Mary Magdalene huffed as she stomped through the hallway, calling Jezebel's name. The priest at her side shook his head as he tried to keep pace.

"_Must_ we be the ones to bring her in? I did it last week and had to say a hundred Hail Mary's."

"Stop your whining. I have to fetch her two or three times a week. I spend more time in penance than I do working. Heaven bless her black soul, for I shall not!"

The priest fell silent before the sister's vehemence. Her temper was legendary, but no one else wanted the duty of dealing with the devil spawn in their midst.

"She'll be in the vents again, mark my words! I swear that child _is_ part vampire!"

"But…she can't _really_ be part vampire, can she?" The priest's voice warbled at the thought.

"Of course not, you fool! Now fetch me a broom so we can find the little brat and be done with it!"

V^^^V

The tapping started at the end of the hall and Jezebel knew her time of peace was over. She dared not flee from the nun and priest looking for her. Such open insolence would end in a whipping that took days to recover from. If she moved, now, it would certainly give her away. It never even crossed her mind to come out and give herself up. There was always a possibility that they might miss her.

She could feel the vibration from the broom handle tapping the ventilation shaft as it came closer. The sound of the tapping changed as it neared the spot where her slight body lay prone in the shaft. The tapping stopped.

"Come out, you cursed child."

Jezebel didn't budge. Silence settled between the girl and the black clad adults.

"For heaven's sake, girl! Do you _want_ to be locked in isolation again?"

Jezebel's fists clenched, but still she didn't move. Below her, the sister sighed.

"Fetch me a ladder, Father Peters."

"Yes, sister."

Jezebel could hear Sister Magdalene's foot tapping as they waited. She glanced around the shaft and determined she was as far from the openings as she could be, but they were sadly close together. She would be in easy arm's reach when the sister reached for her.

She shifted as she contemplated moving to another position while they waited for father Peters to return with the ladder. Maybe she could find a spot out of arm's reach.

"I can hear you, devil child. If you do not come out right this moment, I won't use the ladder. I will have the heaters turned on high and sweat you out. And _then_, I will have you whipped until you can't move for a week. So help me, God, I will do it."

Jezebel swallowed hard. Was it worth the pain of such a whipping to defy this woman that she hated to the depths of her soul?

Clenching her fists, the child tucked her knees up to her chest and buried her face against them. Her body shook, but she held her ground.

"Infuriating chit."

The sound of laden footsteps echoed down the hall. Jezebel listened for the sister's order for the ladder to be taken back and the heat turned on, but it didn't come. Instead, the screws in the closest vent opening clattered in their tracks. She thought about trying to scuttle down the vents, but past experience told her that they _would_ catch her eventually, and the longer it took, the worse her punishment would be. She grit her teeth as the vent cover fell away and an angry face took its place.

"I knew it!" The red-faced sister snaked an arm in the hole and snagged Jezebel by the ear. She bit back a howl of pain as the woman used the hold on her ear and a hunk of hair to drag her toward the opening.

Through the vent opening she went, banging her hip and shins on the sides of the small portal. As soon as the bulk of her weight cleared the vent, gravity took over and she fell. Instinctively, she tucked her head to protect it and hit the ground on her back. The air whooshed out of her lungs and she lay there, relearning how to breathe as the back of her body throbbed everywhere it had taken the impact with the stone floor.

"Get up." Sister Mary Magdalene clambered down the ladder, glaring at the girl gasping on the ground. Father Peters looked with pity on the child, but he didn't speak up. She had, after all, brought this on herself.

"I said, get up! The devil take you, child! I'm tired of your insolence."

Jezebel struggled to move with her lungs still recovering from the fall. Sister Magdalene stooped down and snatched her up by the ear. Jezebel gasped, scrambling to her feet to ease the pain of the harridan's pincer hold.

"I will take her to the monsignor. You can put the ladder away and go to confession."

Father Peters nodded as he folded the ladder up. Sister Magdalene turned and marched down the hallway with Jezebel stumbling in her wake, dragged along by the ear.

V^^^V

Monsignor Heinkel Wolfe stood in Father Whelan's office, examining a photo of Pope Pius XIII. His mind wandered back to the ceremony that had confirmed the man as leader of the largest and oldest political machine in human history. They'd had a grand time introducing the man to the concept of Iscariot Section XIII and proof that the supernatural was very, very real.

"So, you fhelief that Integra Hellsing does not think that this child is of her fhlood?"

Father Whelan winced at the speech impediment that a bullet to the face had left Monsignor Heinkel with over thirty years ago. It made the man hard to understand and the monsignor hated repeating himself.

"She seemed very doubtful and unwilling to negotiate. She sent me away saying she would think the matter over and contact us."

"I see." Only the tightening of Heinkel's gloved fingers betrayed his agitation. They had denied him his crusade, but he would finish what Father Anderson had begun. One way or another, he would rid the world of that damned creature and his infernal master. And the little one, too.

"There are whays to fhrove fhaternity. They whill look into it, giffen the chance."

A small scuffle outside the office door heralded the entrance of a red-faced sister Mary Magdalene and the devil child herself, the key to unlocking his goals. Turning, the monsignor smiled, the bandages that covered his face with the gaping rent in his cheek giving him a ghoulish look. Jezebel's eyes widened and she tried to edge behind the woman still holding onto her ear. If she hated and feared anyone more than the sister, it was this man.

Heinkel walked to Father Whelan's desk and plucked a scalpel from the metal tray sitting there. He eyed the shining silver blade and looked up.

"Fhring her to me."

V^^^V

Integra frowned at the package on her desk, wrapped in brown paper. The return address was in Italy. The only people she knew in Italy belonged to the Vatican.

Hesitant to touch the thing, she sat in the chair at her desk and stared at it.

"Well, it's not going to open itself for me," she muttered, reaching for the box. Using a letter opener, she ripped through the packing tape and opened the box to find a bundled up kerchief inside. Gingerly, she reached inside and pulled it out. Taking a deep breath, she unwrapped the parcel and felt the breath hitch in her throat.

"_Alucaaaard!_"

**End note:**

Poor Jezebel. I had a heck of a time coming up with that name…something the Vatican might name a child that they hated. Oi.

SoraM7: Wow, that might, possibly, be one of the best compliments I've gotten. It can be really hard to put out an original story, especially in fanfic. Hope I can keep it up.

xVentressx: I guess that was kinda short, but that tells me you want to see more! Yay. I promise there is more coming. Lots more.


	3. The Master's Orders

Word count fixed! Yay!

Note: This probably should have gone on the last chapter, but I don't feel like changing it at the moment. In this fanfic, Heinkel is male. I know that most people refer to the character as female, but the manga's author has said that Heinkel is neither male nor female. Since the English language really requires me to refer to one or the other to sound…right…I'm going with male. Heinkel always looked like a guy to me.

Disclaimer: The usual song and dance here. I don't own Hellsing, Integra, Seras or Alucard, but Jezebel is all mine. Muahahahaha…hack, cough, wheeze.

**Ch. 3: The Master's Orders**

A lock of blond hair, torn out at the root, a vial of what could only be blood, and a small fingernail, with flesh from the root bed still clinging to it. It looked like it belonged to a toddler…or the pinky finger of a ten year old girl.

"You summoned me, my master?" Alucard's deep voice came from the floor in front of her desk as he oozed up through the Persian rug.

Integra didn't answer as she stared at the gruesome items on her desk. Next to whoever had done this, Alucard looked like a saint.

The vampire cocked his head at the tableau before him, taking in his master's uncharacteristic silence and the objects that held her attention. With no indication of his intent, he stepped up to the desk, plucked the vial of blood from the line-up and, popping the rubber top off, he poured the contents down his throat.

"What have you done?!" Integra's face switched from stunned disbelief to furious outrage in a heartbeat. She slammed her hands on the desk as she came to her feet, glaring at her vampire servant over the rim of her glasses. Alucard held the empty vial at eye level, watching the bloody remnants pool in the bottom of the glass tube.

"She is a Hellsing," he said. "A few generations removed from your line, but undoubtedly related."

Integra fell back into her chair, disbelief returning to her features.

"How is it possible?"

"If I have learned one thing in over five centuries of existence, it is that humans breed like vermin when they put their minds to it."

"Shut up, idiot. Don't you think I know that? We have kept close records of all births and deaths in the Hellsing family since the organization was formed. I _am_ the last." Integra brought a fist down on the desk to emphasize her point.

"It appears one slipped through the cracks."

Integra ground her teeth together, unable to refute his statement. She trusted his determination of the girl's lineage implicitly. In this, he would not betray or mislead her. The Vatican had a descendant of Hellsing at their mercy.

Her eyes tracked over the bundle of hair and the fingernail.

"They've tortured her." In anyone else, the deadly calm of Integra's voice might come across as indifference, but the tightening around the corners of her mouth and eyes revealed the rage that boiled beneath the surface. Her knuckles mottled white as her fists clenched.

"Your orders, master?"

Integra looked up and studied Alucard's face. He didn't crack so much as a smile, his features utterly deadpan and mysterious behind his spectacles.

"You know what I want. But we don't know where she is."

That familiar smile cracked through Alucard's features.

"I have the taste of her blood in the back of my throat. I could track her to the ends of the Earth."

Integra's left eyebrow rose a notch, arching over the eye patch that covered that eye. She'd never known he had that capability, but it explained why he always seemed to know exactly where she was. A small smile turned the corner of her mouth.

"Find her, Alucard. Let none stand in your way. Search and destroy."

Alucard's smile widened into a manic grin as she spoke. His fangs gleamed in the light, an unspoken threat. He crossed an arm over his chest and bowed.

"As you command…my master."

V^^^V

Seras peered down the barrel of her newest gun, the Hellsing Special Rapid Fire Assault Rifle Viper. Viper for short. She lined the 81.3 cm barrel up with the target nearly six kilometers away. Closing one eye, she squeezed the trigger and released a spat of three 19 mm rounds. They made three jagged holes in the target board…all just outside the bullseye.

"Tcha." Seras clicked her tongue and pulled back to glare at the weapon. Since Walter's death, the weapons produced by the Hellsing organization just didn't meet the same standards. They got the job done well enough, but they lacked a certain finesse.

With a look of longing, Seras thought of her Harkonnen. She could count on one hand the number of times it had seen action since the destruction of London.

When Alucard disappeared, someone had to take his place on the front lines of Hellsing's operations. Being the sole vampire in the organization's employ, that honor fell to Seras. Unfortunately, a gun the size of Harkonnen was just too unwieldy for the front lines, no matter the strength or skill of its wielder. It quite simply didn't fit in some of the places she had to go.

She had tried several different weapons, finally settling on the assault rifle for her preference, but none of them had performed up to the standards set by Hellsing's old butler.

A fine line of red showed at the bottom of her eyes and she lifted her head, blinking back the blood tears. Even after thirty years, she still mourned for Walter…and his betrayal.

"Police girl!"

Seras jumped and looked over her shoulder. Alucard strode across the grassy shooting range, the folds of his red duster flapping in the breeze of his passing. The wide-brimmed fedora hid his expression but his tone brought her to instant attention. Old habits die hard.

"Yes, master?"

"Have you mastered your body's reactions when crossing large bodies of water, yet?"

Seras bit her lip, her mind drifting back to her last overseas trip, when she'd been shipped to Brazil in a coffin, quite against her will. Of course, that was before she'd bowed to the blood lust. Since then, she'd had neither the need nor the inclination to test it. Hellsing protected Great Britain and rarely looked beyond its borders.

"I…I don't know, master."

Alucard's spectacles glinted as he cocked his head at her. The distant lights picked out a faint glimmer as his teeth revealed themselves in a feral grin.

"The coffin it is, then."

"What?!" Seras's eyes grew wide at the thought of that confining space and the unbearable pressure and pain of a sea crossing. She shook her head and took a step back.

"I can't. I _won't_!"

"You _will_!"

He moved faster than even her vampiric vision could follow and scooped her up to toss her over his shoulder. She screeched and pounded at his back as he carried her toward the Hellsing mansion. He ignored her efforts to escape, not even grunting as she rained blows down on him.

V^^^V

Integra looked up from contemplating the lock of hair in her hand as Seras's wails of "Noooo!" echoed across the grounds. A feral smile of her own stretched across her face as she anticipated the destruction that Alucard and Seras would visit on the Vaticans holding her kindred hostage.

Just like old times.

**End note:**

Thank you guys for the reviews. I hope those that aren't reviewing are at least enjoying the fic. I'm having a blast writing it. There will be action coming up very soon, and the promised blood and gore. After all, Alucard will be going head to head against Vatican dogs. Chaos ensues. *grin*

xVentressx: I hope the wait wasn't too long, and I hope the outcome was satisfying.

I'll be working on getting chapter four typed this weekend.


	4. Search

Wow. This fanfic is really coming along. I'm loving this. I hope others are enjoying it as well. I don't have a lot to say on this chapter except that I put way too much time into researching stuff sometimes. I just like to have that touch of realism. I have never been to Italy, so Google was my best friend for this chapter.

Update: If you've been following my fanfic, there is an update on the first chapter to explain *why* Alucard has his powers back, is bound to Integra again and isn't acting like he has Shrodinger yanking him out of reality if he noms on a soul or two. I apologize for the seeming lack of continuity with no explanation. Or maybe I just think too much…

Disclaimer: I know Hellsing isn't mine, but a girl can dream, right? RIGHT?

**Ch. 4: Search**

Seras blinked groggily as the train rolled to a stop in Milazzo, Sicily. Beside her, Alucard stared out at the lights of the coastal city. The train station had an incredible view of the ocean and the tiers of white-washed houses crowding its edge. On the left-hand horizon, an especially bright glow lit up the night.

"What's that?" Seras asked, pointing at the glow beyond the coast. Alucard glanced at his protégé.

"The port."

Seras waited for him to elaborate, but he just returned to staring out the window as the train released an ear-piercing whistle and all around them, tourists, families and students stood to begin gathering their things. Seras sighed.

Alucard had grown increasingly more pensive after they arrived in Italy and began traveling along its western coast. With each city they stopped at, he would lift his head, close his eyes and…sniff. She couldn't imagine how he could smell _anything_ from miles away. _Her_ sense of smell certainly wasn't that acute, but he seemed to sense something. Every time, he ended up facing the ocean. In Capo Vaticano, he had faced directly out to sea, but as they crossed from Italy's mainland into Sicily, his nose had pointed increasingly north.

Each time they stopped and Alucard found himself facing out to sea, his mood grew more volatile. He spoke rarely and spent most of his time brooding as he stared out at the lapping waves.

As the train car cleared out, Alucard pulled out a black cell phone and Bluetooth ear bud. It seemed strange for the ancient vampire to use the technology so casually, but he was nothing if not adaptable. He glanced at the phone's screen as he dialed through, then went back to staring out the window as a tiny ring emanated from his right ear.

"Alucard reporting in. Suspicion confirmed. She is somewhere in the Aeolian Islands. Trajectory suggests Panarea, one of the smallest islands. Limited casualty potential. Your orders, master."

"They remain the same, Alucard. Search and destroy. Bring her home."

"And any humans that might stand in my way?"

The answer didn't come immediately. Seras remembered a time when Alucard would have tortured his master with the decision. Of course, by now, Integra had made so many difficult decisions in her position as head of the Hellsing organization that the potential guilt rolled off her like water off a duck's back. It had been years since she questioned her own decisions.

"Search and destroy, Alucard. Anyone willing to torture a child has left their humanity behind them long ago."

A small smile tugged at the corner of the ancient vampire's mouth, the first one Seras had seen out of him since they crossed the Italian border.

"Understood, my master."

"And, Alucard?"

"Yes, my master?"

"If you find the ones responsible for directly hurting her…take your time killing them."

Alucard's smile stretched into a shit-eating grin. His eyes glowed with a manic intensity.

"As you command, my master." He breathed the words with the reverence of a priest in the presence of God. Integra's end of the phone clicked off without so much as a by-your-leave. Alucard didn't seem to notice. Nothing more needed to be said.

"Per favore, passate presenti al passaggio a Palermo."

Seras jumped at the ticket inspector's voice. She'd been so intent on the conversation between Alucard and Integra that she hadn't noticed his approach.

Alucard looked up as though he'd known the man was there all along. He slid his orange spectacles down his nose so he could capture the man with his red eyes. The ticket inspector blinked and then seemed to relax through the shoulders.

A torrent of words spilled from her master's mouth in what must be Italian. Seras didn't understand a word of it, but the human soaked it up like a sponge as a glaze settled over his eyes.

Alucard had been doing that since they crossed the English Channel. Seras didn't know if he actually knew every language across Europe or if he was plucking the words from the humans' minds. She hadn't dared to ask.

The man nodded, bobbed a curt bow and turned to go back down the aisle. Alucard rose and Seras scrambled to gather their things. They didn't have much, just a backpack with a change of clothes for her and a case containing the Viper which looked like it housed a musical instrument. And…the coffins, of course, but they were tucked away in an empty sleeper car with a bespelled attendant guarding them. Anything else they needed, they could buy…or hunt for.

"Master?" Seras's voice held a querulous note that made Alucard cock an eyebrow at her over his shoulder.

"She…she's on an island?"

Alucard's grin quirked up. The younger vampire had done surprisingly well on the crossing at the English Channel. So much so that he'd allowed her to remain outside her coffin for the crossing from Italy to Sicily. However, this next leg of the journey would be different. With several miles of ocean to cross, she would have to go back in the box.

"Of course she is. They would be fools to keep her anywhere else."

Seras's shoulders slumped, her face falling at the thought of crossing _more_ water.

"Buck it up, police girl. I expect you to provide cover fire for me, just like always."

Seras glanced mournfully over her shoulder at the Viper's case.

"I don't see how I can, with this tiny thing."

"You're thinking like a human again, police girl. Haven't you learned better in thirty years?"

Seras seemed to droop further, if that was possible. Alucard chuckled under his breath.

"Admittedly, a little more firepower might come in useful. The Harkonnen is in a secret compartment in your coffin."

With that bomb dropped, Alucard headed down the train's central aisle, leaving Seras to catch up once her overjoyed shock wore off.

V^^^V

Alucard gripped the ferry's railing, watching the bluffs of the tiny island of Panerea glimmer in the distant moonlight. The bespelled ferryman wouldn't be able to see them yet, but the vampire's sensitive eyes could make out the faint glow of light on the Eastern coast and from behind the cone of the old volcano.

Even with the drag the miles of open water placed on his powers, he could scent the child of Hellsing, Integra's heir, his future master. She was here and he would find her.

Beneath his feet, Seras's screams echoed through the deck. She lasted for almost an hour before the first wail drifted up beneath his feet. She had done better crossing the English Channel, but her reaction didn't really surprise him. In addition to the weight of the ocean, he could feel the prick of holy power across his skin. The entire island had been blessed and radiated with holy light typically invisible to human eyes.

Tugging on the ferryman's mind like the reins of a horse, Alucard directed him to follow the western coast line, away from the eastern, populated side. A sheer bluff rose up on the right and fell away into a jagged, rocky coastline that looked like some giant had hit the island with a massive hammer, crumbling the western half into the ocean.

They skirted around a promontory and a small spire of rock thrusting up out of the water. The faint sound of Seras's muffled screams echoed back to him from the rocky cliffs.

"Quiet, police girl."

The screaming stopped immediately, but he could feel her pain and terror ratchet up a notch. He couldn't be sure how much her mind would take, so he had to make this fast.

A small, sandy beach came into view at the northern end of the island. Alucard directed the ferryman to maneuver as close to the shore as he could as the vampire turned to clamber down to the main deck. He took the stairs like a normal human to conserve his power.

Two coffins sat in one of the spaces that would be taken up by a car on a normal day. Both were in the old-world style, shaped to closely fit a human body. One had a gold cross on the lid. The other had words scrawled across it: _The bird of hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame._

Alucard stooped to grasp the plainer one, hefting it up by the metal straps that held the lid on. He felt a surge of terror from the inside but didn't have time to comfort his protégé.

Carrying the bulky object and its terrified contents to the edge of the ferry, he eyed the shoreline and judged the distance to be narrow enough.

With a mighty heave, he launched the coffin through the air like a bulky, unwieldy javelin. It sailed through the air, trailing a thin, terrified wail as it went. To his satisfaction, it landed in the sand of the beach, upright and sunk about a foot and a half into the ground. The second coffin landed next to it a moment later.

Reaching out to leave a last set of instructions in the ferryman's mind, Alucard surveyed his handiwork and, grinning, dissolved into a hoard of flapping bats.

V^^^V

Pain! Pain and terror! The unbearable pressure had vanished, but the pain marched over her skin like an army of angry ants, taking chunks out of her as they went. Another scream bubbled up at the back of her throat, but something she couldn't name prevented it from escaping past her lips. If she could just get that scream out, it would all be better. She just _knew_ it.

The sound of screeching metal assaulted her ears as something wrenched the lid off her prison. A familiar face swam into view. She knew that face, like a distant memory of a long-forgotten dream. White gloved hands reached for her and as her skin came into contact with his, the pain lessened and a touch of sanity returned.

Seras frowned up at Alucard's grinning face. How could he _laugh_ at a time like this? His eyes danced with mirth and she realized he no longer wore his signature red duster but the black leather conglomerate of straps that only showed up during his most violent bursts of power. His black hair, grown long and thick, snapped in the whipping sea breeze…or was that his power whipping around them like a hurricane gale?

"What are you doing?"

His grin widened and his eyes showed white all around the iris as the wind picked up. It battered them like a ship in a storm and Alucard began to fade around the edges. Dark tendrils of power curled out from his whipping hair and wings made up of a thousand gloved hands sprouted from his back. The hands flexed, raised themselves to the sky and then plunged into the ground all around them.

Like a straw house going up in flames, Alucard's dark power consumed them both. It spread from the inferno of their bodies, across the beach and up the rocky cliffs that framed the crescent moon of sand. Hundreds of red eyes opened on the black cliffs, blinking at the two vampires and their waiting coffins. The black flames reached an unbearable crescendo and with a loud pop, both vampires and their coffins slipped through the sand of the beach into the warm darkness of the volcanic rock below.

The sand settled into place, leaving no indication of what had just taken place. For a normal human, nothing would seem out of place, but to the properly trained eye, the beach pulsed with a dark corruption that sat against the island's holy blessing like a rotten core beneath the skin of a fresh, crisp apple.

Safe within his coffin, Alucard's eyes closed. He could feel the sun working its way over the horizon. For now, he would sleep the day away in his native Romanian earth and come dusk, the Vatican dogs would pay dearly for daring to lay a hand on an heir of Hellsing.

**End note:**

Yay, a new follower.

xVentressx: Thank you for reviewing on every chapter. I'm so glad you're enjoying the fic. This should start getting a little more involved and interesting, now. Yay.

I changed the rating on this to 'T' because I'm not sure I'm going to get SO very gory that it would be a problem. I think I may be misrepresenting the story with the 'M' rating. Of course, I haven't gotten to the gore yet. That's next chapter. Heehee.

Please review, even if it's to say I'm way off and couldn't write Alucard's character right to save my life. Feedback is good. Really.


	5. And Destroy

Yay! Three reviews! *jumps for joy* And follows! Woot.

I have to say, I have been having the darndest time getting everything to display right on FF, but I think I finally have a format nailed down that will work. It looks like the prequel I had been thinking about doing to explain Alucard getting his powers back, being bound to the Hellsing family again, etc., is definitely going to become a reality. Two chapters for that written already. It won't be as long as this one, so I think I'll go ahead and finish it before posting it. Heehee…sulky Alucard. Nom, nom.

Disclaimer: The usual rigamarole. If it showed up anywhere in the Hellsing manga/anime, it ain't mine.

**Ch. 5: And Destroy**

As dusk settled over a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, the sand of a small crescent-shaped beach on its northern shore shifted. It simmered and then boiled until it vomited two bulky, oblong objects onto the surface. The darker one cracked open first, a white gloved hand reaching out, grasping the edge of the wooden box.

The lone tourist sitting on the beach's rocky rim blinked in disbelief as a dark-haired man in a red duster sat up. He turned to look at her through orange tinted spectacles. Thin lips pulled back from impossibly large teeth, the maniacal grin revealing long, tapered fangs.

The tourist passed out cold.

V^^^V

Jezebel snapped out of a fitful sleep, gasping as fire raced down her back. She moaned and rolled back onto her belly to get her weight off the scabbed over stripes that marked her from the nape of her neck to her buttocks. Her right pinky throbbed as though to remind her that the whipping wasn't the only injury she'd sustained. She hissed as she accidentally brushed the stitched cut on her collar bone against her pillow.

How long had it been since the whipping? A day? Three? She'd been drifting in and out of a feverish state since Monsignor Heinkel had taken her blood and finger nail. She couldn't be sure how much time had passed.

The door to her tiny cell of a room clattered open and Sister Magdalene muttered under her breath as she bustled in. Jezebel flinched at the sound of the nun's rough voice.

The woman set a shallow pan of steaming water on the stone floor beside Jezebel's tiny bed. Next to it, she dropped a first aid kit that looked out of place against the medieval stones.

Jezebel bit back a whimper as the sister pulled her blanket down and pushed the girl's nightgown up to her shoulders. Her rough hands skimmed over the red, raised welts marking the girl's thin back.

Jezebel squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists, but a small hiss of pain escaped between her teeth. Sister Magdalene paused and a low chuckle rumbled out of her chest. The sound sent shivers down the girl's spine.

Reaching down, the sister soaked a white cloth in the steaming water. Wringing it out, she set the rough fabric against the girl's raw back. She dragged the washcloth over the ridged, puckered scabs and Jezebel writhed under her ministrations, the unbearable heat of the cloth and the rough fabric snagging on the scabs, making her want to scream. She clenched her teeth on the outburst. If she made such a sound, Sister Magdalene would enjoy it too much, and cause more pain in her enthusiasm.

Jezebel bit into her pillow as Sister Magdalene washed her back and spread a healing ointment on the wounds. The ointment felt good once the sister stopped touching her, but the rest of the treatment was torture.

Sister Magdalene dropped the ointment back in the first aid kit and reached for Jezebel's right hand. The girl tucked it under her belly, dreading the woman's attention on her raw, swollen nail bed.

"Hand it over, child. I'll just flip you over onto your back if you don't."

Jezebel flinched at the thought of lying on her back. Biting her lip and blinking back traitorous tears, she brought her hand out and placed it on the pillow near her tormentor.

Sister Mary Magdalene grinned in triumph as she reached out to grasp the girl's wrist. She tugged, the force of her yank flipping the girl over so she landed on her back. Jezebel arched her back and scrabbled at the bed with her left hand, desperate to escape the fiery pain.

As if on cue, a loud, reverberating "_BOOM_" resonated through the building and puffs of dust showered down from the ceiling of the tiny room.

V^^^V

Alucard crunched through the rubble left by Seras's shot into the building's stone walls. A manic grin split his face as his eager eyes searched for the casualties such a blast would leave behind. Bits of burned paper floated to the ground where the building's seal of holy pages had been decimated by the violent incendiary attack.

Alucard's smile widened a fraction as he spotted two priests coughing and limping away from the rubble. He let them go, allowing them to stumble deeper into the building. Instead, he cleared the last of the rubble, lifted his head and _sniffed_.

His grin shifting into a snarling leer, he marched down the corridor. He had her smell clinging to the back of his throat, laced with anger, pain and a child's fear. Very little could pull him out of his insane glee in the midst of carnage, especially against the Vatican, but the scent of a Hellsing in pain sobered him like a plunge into an icy river.

Behind him, a second mortar from the Harkonnen widened the hole he had come through. They couldn't put a seal on thin air.

In the distance, the wails of frightened children echoed against the walls. His sensitive ears picked up the faint murmuring of men and women trying to quiet and comfort them. He grinned again at the panic in their voices.

From down the corridor, a loud bang rang out and fire ripped through his right shoulder. It blossomed as it passed through the flesh and exited the back side with a radius five times the size of the entry point. Smoke and the stench of burning flesh wafted up from the wound.

Alucard sniffed. Silver nickel alloy hollow points filled with holy water and capped with a thin layer of copper. A low chuckle started deep in his throat. It grew into guffaws of hilarity as he reached into his red coat to draw his .454 Casull. Several more pops rang out, riddling his chest and shoulders with holes.

Leveling the Casull at the figures lurking at the end of the hall, he pulled the trigger. A gurgling shout marked his kill. Another shot barreled down the corridor and caught Alucard between the eyes, knocking his head back as a spurt of blood flew out of the back of his skull. He fell straight back, splashing in the pool of red blood from his own wounds. Quiet settled over the corridor as the Vatican warriors peered out from where they'd scattered to cower behind the walls of a cross corridor. One brave soul eased out in a crouch, hand stretched out toward their dead comrade.

A white gloved hand lifted the Casull. Staring at the ceiling and firing from a prone position, Alucard took out the Vatican warrior, adding a second corpse to the end of the hallway.

"Identity confirmed! I repeat, identity confirmed! It _is_ the vampire!"

The panicked voice screamed into a tiny microphone as Alucard's laugh echoed from the walls, as though the building itself shook with hilarity at the situation. The vampire's body rose from the ground as though pulled by a string through his middle.

"Vatican dogs! Your blessed water means nothing to me! Have you learned nothing?"

The vampire tilted upright, his head flopping forward. His shoulders slumped and his arms hung like a marionette abandoned by its child. Red eyes peeked over the metal rims of his orange spectacles, cheeks pulled back in his trademark grin.

"Bring forth your pack leader, _dogs_! Give me a _challenge_!"

A loud 'thwack' answered his demand and a silver-tipped crossbow bolt appeared in his chest, buried over half a foot into his heart.

Alucard's eyes flew wide and his mouth opened in silent shock as his knees buckled. In this modern age, he'd been almost convinced that no one remembered the effectiveness of a wooden stake through the heart.

At the end of the corridor, the crossbow's wielder emerged, striding down the hallway, a freshly loaded quarrel aimed at Alucard's head. A second man followed behind him, carrying a wooden crosier, sharpened at the base to a lethal point. A six winged angel made up the center of the crook, the tips of its wings extending up as sharp, silver spikes. Both of them wore rough brown robes, the one carrying the crosier bearing a gold cross on his chest. They shared the same strong features with great, hooked noses, deep black eyes and ruddy skin.

"I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." The man with the crosier bowed his head as he uttered his verse. Beside him, the man with the crossbow bowed his head as well.

"Amen, father."

Simultaneously, the crossbow fired into Alucard's forehead as the pointed end of the crosier buried itself next to the quarrel in his chest.

Cheers of 'Father Stephen' and Brother Paul' erupted from the end of the corridor. The abbot, Father Stephen, held up his hand for silence and received instant obedience. He frowned down at the vampire's bloody body as it stared up into empty space. It looked dead…for a human, but didn't vampires dissolve into dust when they died?

"Hellsing Creed situation B verified. Autonomous release of ability restrictions three…two. Mastery lock lifted until situation confirmed resolved."

Father Stephen jumped back, shoving Brother Paul behind him.

"Go!" he yelled, yanking the crosier out of Alucard's chest. The vampire's body wavered around the edges, melting into the floor and trickling toward the abbot. A hundred red eyes, collected painstakingly over the months since he had returned to Integra, opened in the black puddle, blinking at the ceiling. A dark shadow rose from the splotch of black, collecting eyes as it went. A vague silhouette of a human formed out of the darkness, its head surrounded by a halo of jagged black tendrils.

A crossbow bolt sliced through the air, passing through the part of the apparition that would have held the heart in a human. The bolt flew through the shadow like viscous smoke. A dark giggle emanated from the apparition and a mouth formed in the middle of the eyes, white fangs bared and laughing like a demented hyena.

"Back up! He's beyond that!" Father Stephen shoved Paul behind him, sending him careening into the corpses at the end of the hall. He brought the spiked crook of his crosier to bear on the writhing shadow. Bracing his feet, he held a hand out toward the crook of the crosier and closed his eyes.

"Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him."

The six wings of the angel on the crosier flared into brilliant white light. The Alucard-shadow flinched away, singed by the abbot's conviction.

"I will praise the Lord, who counsels me, even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

Father Stephen took a step forward, brandishing the glowing crosier. Alucard flowed back, giving way before him. The man's faith shone like a beacon in a black night, guiding the lost home. Alucard remembered a time when he had shone with such light. Even Father Anderson had failed to achieve this level of holiness.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom should I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident."

Father Stephen thrust the crosier at his adversary and the blinking eyes retreated before it. The shadow sank, falling into the ground in a sort of cringing movement. The laughter had long since stopped and the gaping mouth snapped and snarled like a rabid dog.

Behind the abbot, his monks and priest warriors crept from behind the safety of the cross corridor walls. He ignored them, his attention focused solely on the diabolical creature before him.

Alucard writhed and twisted, tendrils lashing at the glow that drove him back. Now, he knew where the island's blessing had come from. It had to be this man.

The vampire sank into the puddle on the floor, the eyes closing, one by one. A cheer went up behind the abbot and this time, he didn't bother to silence his followers.

The last of Alucard's form disappeared into the puddle, leaving only a single red eye staring up out of it. Father Stephen took one last step forward…and a white gloved hand shot up out of a small puddle at his feet, latching onto his throat. A third mortar crashed through the wall behind Alucard and the holy light from the seraphim winked out.

Father Stephen dropped the crosier, scrabbling at the hand that gripped his throat. The white glove morphed into a black jaw with ragged, sharp teeth that sank into the abbot's flesh. Blood fountained from the pierced throat, flowing in gouts down the black shadow that took on the shape of a man with his face buried in the bleeding flesh.

The monks and priests scattered back to their hiding places as the abbot's body twitched and jerked, hanging from Alucard's mouth, impaled on the vampire's fangs. Great gouts of viscous red flowed down Alucard's neck as his throat worked, swallowing the life-giving substance as fast as it flowed into his mouth. A high, keening sound escaped the abbot's lips, the only sound he could make with a ravaged throat.

"Release him!"

The keening dropped off and quiet settled over the corridor as Alucard's eyes slid to the left.

"Let him go, immediately!"

The vampire's eyes widened and his jaw opened, letting the twitching body slide to the floor at his feet. He turned to face this new challenger as Sister Mary Magdalene stepped out of the shadows of another cross corridor, pushing a young girl before her, a 9mm Beretta pressed against her temple.

**End notes:**

Yay hostage situation? Alucard doesn't, exactly, have a good track record with those, does he? *grin*

You'll notice that the invocation that Alucard uses to release his power in this chapter is vastly different from the manga. This is because Integra had to seal his power again in her own way, so she created her own set of restriction levels and requirements for him to be able to release without direct acknowledgement from her. See? There IS method to my madness…sometimes…

Chocoholics Unite: So glad you like it. Here's the next chapter for you. :3

TheAkatsukisPet: Thank you! That really means something to me. Alucard can be such a difficult character to write, because I really feel like there is a serious, even sharp brain under that child-like exterior of his, but of course that has to be balanced with his total lack of sanity. It's a real juggling act, but so much fun.

xVentressx: I don't know if I'll need any Romanian, but thank you for the offer. I hope this chapter was the kind of gore that you like. I enjoy gore in my fiction too, when it's appropriate.

I think this is the longest chapter yet. Originally it was two, but the second one ended up being just a fragment, so I combined them. I hope everyone likes it.

Toodles.


	6. Child of Hellsing

Woot! Four reviews. Makes me feel popular…and stuff…

So here's chapter six. More blood and gore. Yay. I really hope that my OC is meshing well with the Hellsing cast. I'm having so much fun with her…and she's totally taking on a mind of her own. Originally, she was supposed to be a lot like Integra, but as it goes on, she's acting more and more like Alucard. Maybe Integra will have a moderating influence on her?

So, the prequel is a definite, now. It's almost done. I'm torn between posting it while I'm still working on this fic or waiting until I've finished this fic…. Choices, choices.

Disclaimer: Hellsing and company are not mine, just a certain little girl that's taking on a decidedly demented mind set. Heehee.

**Ch. 6—Child of Hellsing**

Alucard's nostril's flared, picking up the girl's blood scent. She glared at him, taking in the blood soaking his hair and running down his face without so much as a gasp. She had the same eyes as Integra and blond hair only a shade darker than his master's. With the stubborn set to her jaw and chin raised in defiance, she reminded him of that night over forty years ago when he had met his master for the first time. Even the worn and tattered nightgown she wore and arms so thin the bones showed through could not detract from her regal bearing. One might think she was the Queen, dragged from her sleep by an unruly disturbance.

"Back away from him, vampire, or I will put a bullet through her head."

Alucard's eyes flicked to the wounded abbot, knowing it was too late for him, unless he possessed the late Anderson's legendary regenerating ability. A corner of his mouth twitched, part smile and part snarl, but he moved away. Unlike Seras, he couldn't shoot through the girl to get to the nun. To turn a child…blasphemy, even for him.

"Father Peters, I know you're cowering over there. Fetch me the silver mesh." No one answered, but the sound of footsteps scurrying down the corridor echoed back to them.

Alucard stared at the girl, his face passive, eyes boring into hers. She blinked but didn't look away. She knew those eyes. She'd dreamed about them every day since the whipping. As in her dreams, they came with blood and darkness, but the fear she knew in her dreams remained curiously absent. Maybe it was that the gun pressed to her head presented a much greater concern. Or maybe those eyes weren't the part of her dream that truly terrified her.

"You mean to capture me. What is it that you wish to do with me?" Alucard quirked a smile at the glaring woman. She towered over the girl by more than a foot. A twitch of his arm would bring the Casull even with her head, a squeeze of his finger to release the bullet. He could kill her in a fraction of a second, but if her finger tightened on the trigger in her death throes, he would lose the girl.

Unacceptable.

"It is our holy duty to protect the world from the spawn of Satan."

"Do you wish for me to serve you as I do my master? Will you send me out to kill my brethren?"

"Speak not blasphemy in my presence, demon!" The sister snarled, a most unholy look twisting her features. Alucard's smile spread into a bright grin.

"You Vatican dogs think to bring yourselves against me? Your champion lies dying on the ground. Release the girl to me."

Sister Magdalene's fist clenched and Alucard's eyes widened as he realized the woman held the girl by a fistful of hair. Her eyes betrayed nothing more than a flash of pain as that grip tightened. The vampire's eyes narrowed, his look boring into her, reaching for her soul.

Jezebel blinked. She knew the vampire expected something from her, but what? _What_?

He had asked for her. He wanted to take her away. A flutter of hope blossomed in her chest at the thought. Anything had to be better than this. But how could he take her away if Sister Magdalene killed her? She had to get out of the way of the gun.

Alucard's teeth grit as the girl's eyes flickered. Something had occurred to her. Did she understand what he needed her to do? His hand tightened on the Casull's grip.

As smoothly as though it had been choreographed, Jezebel shoved herself back and let her knees buckle so her body weight pulled her down. Alucard's hand came up, sighting on the point between Sister Magdalene's eyes before the woman could blink. Two shots rang out.

The 9mm bullet missed the girl it had been meant for, flying past the top of her head and clipping several hairs as it went. The 13mm bullet nailed Sister Magdalene between the eyes and exploded out of the back of her head in a spray of blood, bone and brain matter.

The hand gripping Jezebel's hair relaxed as the sister's corpse collapsed. She fell to her hands and knees, ears ringing from the gun going off so close to her head. Shouts from just down the hallway sounded tiny and distant.

Alucard strode toward the girl, stepping over her crouching form to plant a booted foot on either side of her. The bottom of his red duster brushed against her back as he opened fire on the monks and priests at the end of the hall. Infuriated by the death of their abbot and the sister, they charged down the hallway, taking the vampire's bullets like so many meat shields.

Jezebel clapped her hands over her ears to protect them from the blast of the Casull just a few feet above her head. She looked up…and up…and up. The man towered over her, his mouth set in a grim line as he slaughtered the Vatican attackers. He fired three times, popped the clip and slammed a fresh one home. The empty clip clattered to the ground in front of her as he took out two more priests. The rest scattered back to their hiding places, terrified by the speed of Alucard's reload.

Jezebel watched them go and felt something she didn't quite have a name for. If it was one of the other orphans in her position, she would call it…protected, safe. A little shocked by the feeling she'd never known, she scooted an inch to the side and leaned against Alucard's leg with her hands clapped over her ears to protect them. Alucard looked down at the girl, a frown taking the place of his usual maniacal grin. The thin nightgown outlined the bones of her spine, shoulders and ribs where they stuck out under her skin. Didn't they feed the child?

"What's your name, girl?"

"Jezebel."

Alucard chuckled.

"I should have expected something like that. Are you injured?"

Jezebel thought of her finger and the welts on her back. How should she answer that? She could move and she hadn't taken any harm from the hostage situation.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes." That, she had an answer for. Alucard stepped back, keeping one eye on the activity at the end of the hall and the other on Jezebel. She pushed herself to her feet, refusing to let on how much her back hurt from the manhandling. Alucard smiled down at her with his feral grin. She blinked up at him, stunned. No adult had ever smiled at her that she could remember.

"Stop them!"

A new spate of gunfire erupted from the surviving monks. Alucard whirled around, shoving Jezebel to the ground and crouching over her to take the bullets in his back. An involuntary scream escaped the girl's throat as she went back down to hands and knees with the vampire's hand burning like a brand on her back.

Alucard snatched his hand back like he'd touched thrice blessed silver. Ignoring the gunfire behind him, he reached down and yanked the nightgown up to bare the girl's back. Long welts topped with scabs criss-crossed her back, the skin red and irritated around the wounds, especially where his hand had touched her. Blood oozed from where a couple of the scabs had broken. Jezebel squeaked and tried to tug her nightgown back down.

"You Vatican DOGS!" Alucard's roar echoed through the building and inky blackness enveloped the floors, the walls, the ceilings. Screams broke out throughout the abbey as every source of light failed under the darkness. Glowing red eyes blinked open on every shadowed surface. Jezebel stared straight down into an eye just under her as the vampire crouched over her, growling and snarling. Her dream came to mind as one by one, the distant screams died until only the whimpers of terrified children were left. Blood ran in rivulets over the eyes, rushing toward the vampire like rivers to the sea. A gloved hand wrapped around her middle, holding her in place, but careful not to touch the stripes that curved around her sides.

Jezebel thought about the dying screams, the monks and nuns that had treated her like dung, repeatedly called her devil spawn and child of Hell. These men and women had beaten and starved her, left her to the tender mercies of the orphan bullies and ostracized her in every way possible. This was their blood, flowing past her hands and knees into the infernal creature that crouched protectively over her.

A slow smile stretched over her face, demented at the edges. A small giggle escaped her, the first time she could ever remember laughing. She lifted bloody hands and wrapped her arms around the arm holding her in place. Finally, finally, she knew what it felt like to be hugged.

V^^^V

Seras watched the building, listening to the screams die, one by one. Had they all stood in Alucard's way? Those were human voices and she winced at the thought of what he was doing. She had seen him massacre armies of ghouls and freak vampires, even humans when they marched against him, but these people…something felt off. Surely not everyone in the abbey was a warrior.

As the darkness melted away from the walls, the young vampire frowned, watching the hole she had made in the wall. A figure emerged from the rubble, picking its way over the broken stone and masonry.

Seras's eyes widened as she made out the form of a small girl perched on Alucard's hip, his arms supporting her under the rear and thighs. She had her arms wrapped around his neck, her head nestled on his shoulder. Blood covered them both.

By the time Alucard reached his protégé, her jaw had dropped to rest on her chest.

"Pack up the Harkonnen, police girl. The ferryman will be here within the hour."

**End Notes:**

So, yeah. Jezebel is picking up a little bit of Alucard's insanity…but can you BLAME her? Poor kid's been through hell, and right now, she wants to be JUST like Uncle Alucard when she grows up.

Alucard: UNCLE Alucard? O.O

FalconStorm: Yes. *Uncle* Alucard. *snickers*

TheAkatsukisPet: I think the different facets to Alucard's personality are part of what make him such a dynamic character. Everyone has depths to their personalities that even the people that know them best would be surprised to find out are there. It makes him fun, but very difficult to characterize. I find myself stopping and asking myself 'What would Alucard REALLY do in this situation?' all the time.

Alucard: I would kill everyone in sight, of course.

FalconStorm: Oh, you would not, and even if you wanted to, you'd only do it with Integra's permission.

Alucard: Yes, but she generally gives it. Sometimes she's more bloody minded than me.

FalconStorm: Wait…that's possible?

Maroongrad: I have to apologize to you. Your comments on chapter four got posted a little late because I did not know that comments that aren't tied to an existing FF account have to be moderated… *sigh* Now, I know. I'm so glad you enjoy my writing.

Chocoholics Unite: It would be a rather short fanfic if the main OC character died, I think. Luckily, Jezebel is one smart little cookie, especially when it comes to survival. Being a Hellsing raised in a Vatican orphanage/abbey is a bit like growing up in a warzone anyway, especially with the sadistic Sister Mary Magdalene as your primary caretaker. I am so cruel to my OC's sometimes. Makes it more fun when things start going *right* in their lives.

xVentressx: Ah, such loyalty. I truly appreciate your continuous reviews. Makes me so happy.

So, the next chapter should be up this weekend. I need to finish the darn prequel so I can concentrate on the main fic again. Lol. Just one chapter left to write on the prequel, I think, and maybe an epilogue. Not sure on the epilogue. We'll see what happens.


	7. A Valuable Lesson Learned

Note: Just a warning-Heinkel talks a lot at the beginning of this chapter. I am sorry if anyone has trouble with his dialogue. If anyone wants to see a translation of what he says at the bottom of the chapter, let me know and I'll edit the chapter. **At reader request, I have added what Heinkel says in this chapter in parenthesis after his dialogue, if it contains misspellings due to his speech impediment.

Also, I had someone ask why I portray Heinkel as male. I think I mentioned something about this in Chapter 3, but it doesn't hurt to reiterate. When I read the manga, I thought of Heinkel as male. I hadn't seen Crossfire yet and the character just struck me as male. (Yes, I read scanlations to begin with. I'm working on buying the series so Hirano can get his royalties out of me. *grin*) The name, also, is very masculine. When I did some research online, I found that according to the author (Hirano), Heinkel is neither male nor female. Personally, I think he was just being sarcastic, or couldn't explain why he'd drawn the character with big breasts in Crossfire and then flat chested, or even possibly male in Hellsing, so he was just pulling some crap out of his rear to cover up for it. Fine by me. It's his story. But since there's no definitive answer for Heinkel's gender and I thought of the character as male when I was reading the manga, I went with Heinkel as a guy. Sorry if this is weird for some readers.

Disclaimer: Hellsing not mine. I wish.

**Ch. 7: A Valuable Lesson Learned**

Monsignor Heinkel Wolfe glanced over the report on his desk as he wrapped clean linen bandages around his head. The wound he had taken years ago had healed as much as it ever would, but since he had refused stitches at the time, it had left a gaping rip in his right cheek. He wore the bandages to hide the scarring and to keep the inside of his mouth from drying out. Sometimes, he wished he had let the Vatican medics treat him, but he appreciated that the problems he had with the wound kept him focused on his goals…the destruction of the Hellsing organization.

Fifty-three dead at the Panarea Abbey. No one over the age of fifteen had survived and most of the children were still silent from shock and trauma. The monsignor smiled. They had come for the girl, just as he knew they would, given the right incentive. The loss of Father Stephen was something of a bad blow, but Heinkel hadn't believed, even for a moment, that the abbot could defeat Alucard. Pride goeth before the fall.

A knock came at the office door and Heinkel secured the last bandage.

"Enter."

Father Whelan opened the door and Heinkel ground his teeth. The man should have been at the abbey when Alucard attacked, but he had conveniently had errands to run in Rome immediately after they had sent the package with the girl's…parts to Hellsing. Errands that wouldn't take him back to the abbey until after the vampire showed up.

"Monsignor Heinkel," Father Whelan said as he reached up to touch the cross hanging from his neck. "Bishop Ferdinand asked me to let you know he would like to meet with you at your earliest convenience."

"Of course."

Heinkel picked up the report and flipped the top page over. A couple of minutes passed and Father Whelan didn't leave.

"Yes?"

"Err…he seemed to think that your earliest convenience would be soon enough for me to escort you."

Heinkel sighed. In other words, 'at your earliest convenience' meant 'immediately'.

Gathering the pages of the report, he rose and followed the cowardly priest out the door and down the hall.

Bishop Ferdinand folded his hands on his desk as Heinkel and Whelan took their seats. He leveled a piercing look at the monsignor.

"Fifty-three dead," he said. Heinkel met his eyes without so much as a blink. "And the girl is gone. We are _not_ starting another crusade here, monsignor."

"A fhassacre at a single affey fy a known hostile is hardly a crusade. And the girl is exactly hwhere I hwant her to fe." (A massacre at a single abbey by a known hostile is hardly a crusade. And the girl is exactly where I want her to be.)

"In the hands of Hellsing?"

"Hwhen fighting any fhattle, fhishop, one 'hust fhlace one's hweapon in the 'host adfantageous fhosition fhossible." (When fighting any battle, bishop, one must place one's weapon in the most advantageous position possible.)

Bishop Ferdinand winced at the garbled mess that Heinkel's speech impediment had made of that statement. He narrowed his eyes at the monsignor.

"She is a ten year old girl. What is it that you think a child can do against Hellsing? Against that _demon_? An entire battalion of vampires couldn't destroy him!"

"H'recisely,"(Precisely) Heinkel said, ignoring the bishop's glare. "A fhull on, fhrontal attack whill nefher succeed against that creature. He is too fhowerful. Whe 'hust adoft an indirect afhroach." (A full on, frontal attack will never success against that creature. He is too powerful. We must adopt an indirect approach.)

"I still don't understand what a _child_ can do! We should have waited, trained her as an assassin and delivered her to them, then."

Heinkel stared at the small minded man, his features impassive. Would he never manage to drill the concept of true strategy into their miniscule brains? No wonder the church never managed to hold the holy lands for any notable period of time.

"To defeat an ene'y, one 'hust first disrufht his equilifrium. A grown who'an trained as an assassin whould not fhase Alucard _or_ Seras. A child, on the other hand, whill!" (To defeat an enemy, one must first disrupt his equilibrium. A grown woman trained as an assassin would not phase Alucard _or_ Seras. A child, on the other hand, will!)

V^^^V

Jezebel rubbed her eyes and blinked at the table in front of her. She'd never seen so much food in one place before. The waiter that had delivered it shot an uneasy glance at Alucard and scurried back toward the kitchen.

The vampire sat in the wicker chair, long legs crossed and jutting out to the side since the table was too short for his knees to fit under it. His hat tilted down to hide his face, only the barest glimmer of orange peeking out from the shadows.

He had sent Seras to shop for some clothes for the girl. They couldn't exactly cross Europe with her in nothing but a thin night gown. Eventually, it would get too cold. In the mean time, he intended to get some food into her.

"Eat, girl."

Jezebel eyed the soup, bread and pasta with wide eyes.

"How…how much is mine?"

"All of it."

Alucard frowned. Was the girl slow? Surely not. She had figured out what he needed her to do in the middle of a hostage situation. She must know he wasn't human and wouldn't eat anything on the table. Why was she asking stupid questions?

Reaching out, the girl picked up a piece of bread. Watching him like a lion at a watering hole, she shoved it in her mouth, chewed and swallowed. When he didn't reprimand her or take the food away, she tackled the repast like a starving hyena.

She had atrocious table manners. She stuffed bread in her mouth as fast as she could chew and swallow. She slurped the soup from the edge of the bowl and plunged her hands into the pasta to bring it one fistful at a time to her face. The silverware sat, untouched, on the pristine white napkin.

Alucard grinned as he watched. She reminded him of himself during a good feeding, before he started taking his dinner from a bag to appease the finer sensibilities of the Hellsing family. Integra would have a fit.

With only a quarter of the adult-sized serving of pasta left, Jezebel's hunger seemed to finally give out. She sat back in the chair and burped. White sauce covered her hands and clung to the lower half of her face. She lifted a hand, eyed it for a moment and licked the palm.

Alucard chuckled and caught the eye of the waiter, staring in horrified fascination at the filthy girl. He arched an eyebrow at the man and the waiter flushed.

"Is there anything else?" he asked in Italian.

"Just the check," Alucard responded in the same language. The waiter bobbed a small bow and hurried off to get the check. Jezebel was busy cleaning her left hand off with her tongue. She reminded him of a cat.

Moving to her right hand, she winced as she accidentally brushed the bandaged pinky against her chin. Alucard scowled at the reminder of her injuries. He glanced at the clock on the street corner and wondered what was taking Seras so long. Surely, shopping for a small child didn't take over an hour.

The waiter returned and Alucard paid for the meal with a Hellsing credit card. By now, Jezebel's look of contentment had soured into something less pleasant. She touched her stomach and moaned.

"What's wrong?"

"Tummy hurts."

Alucard's frown deepened. What could be wrong with the child? It had been over five hundred years since he'd been ill. He knew there were any number of ailments that humans could suffer from, but he had no idea how to diagnose or treat any of them.

"Come, we will look for Seras. She was human much more recently than I. She may know what to do."

Jezebel nodded, looking decidedly miserable, now. She eased out of the chair, making a face as her overly full stomach lurched. Alucard noticed that she didn't even blink when he mentioned not being human. Was she, indeed slow? Somehow, he didn't think so. More likely, she knew exactly what he was talking about and had no fear of him.

Smiling, he led the way out of the café. At the street curb, he felt a tug on his duster. He looked down to find Jezebel holding onto a fold of the coat. He couldn't imagine why she would do such a thing, but he didn't make her stop. It seemed to comfort her.

They crossed the street together, but on the other side, Alucard realized that his stride was much longer than hers. Impatient to find Seras, he stooped down to pick Jezebel up. He perched her on his hip, like before, and set out down the street.

Five steps later, his faster pace jostled her distended stomach. With a loud hurking sound, the girl convulsed and then proceeded to spew half her dinner down the vampire's back.

Alucard froze in shock, not certain what to do. Had she been anyone but a Hellsing, he might have shot her for spewing filth all over him. Of course, had she been anyone but a Hellsing, he wouldn't have been carrying her on his hip.

Three blocks down, Seras stepped through a shop door, several bags in one hand and a box tucked under the other arm. Her eyes went straight to them, knowing through the telepathic link with her master that he was looking for her.

Jezebel convulsed one last time, pouring the last of what her stomach rejected down Alucard's back. She collapsed against his shoulder, limp with exhaustion from her ordeal.

"I feel better, now," she said in a tired voice.

Terrified for the girl's life, Seras rushed down the street. Alucard seemed frozen in place, eyes inscrutable behind his orange spectacles. Seras imagined the only thing holding him back was indecision over just how he wanted to kill the child.

The younger vampire dropped her bags and parcel a few steps away and held her arms out to them.

"I'll take her, master. Please give her to me."

Jezebel stirred and tightened her arms around Alucard's neck, clinging to him. That seemed to snap him out of his daze. He looked down at the girl and Seras bit her lip until it bled, expecting him to bare those ferocious fangs and take a chunk out of Jezebel's neck.

"What's wrong with her?" It took Seras a moment to realize he was talking to her since he never took his eyes off of Jezebel.

"I…I suppose she's sick." Seras mentally shook her head, still caught up in a vision of Alucard ripping the girl to shreds. She stepped forward and pressed a hand to Jezebel's forehead.

"She feels a little warm, but not feverish. How much did she have to eat?"

"Almost all of it."

"Almost all of what?" Seras asked, suspicion dawning. Alucard listed the dishes he had purchased at the café and Seras fought to keep from rolling her eyes.

"She ate too much. Human stomachs can only hold so much, especially when they've never had much to begin with. She so small…they probably never fed her much."

"She _did_ eat like a starving hound." Alucard's smile curled his lips and Seras blinked in shock. That wasn't his sadistic pre-slaughter smile. He was genuinely amused by the girl.

"Uh…err…well, we better get you two cleaned up. There are public showers on the beach."

"No. We'll rent a hotel room. The girl needs to rest." Seras realized Jezebel had fallen asleep on Alucard's shoulder, her arms wrapped possessively around his neck. The whole tableau confused and unsettled her. She never imagined her master would do well with children. Although she'd never seen him kill one (Shrodinger not counting since he was something other than human to begin with), she'd never seen him seek out their company either. If she'd been asked before this mission, she would have said Alucard should stay away from children at all costs, and assumed that some human survival instinct would make them run from him. Either Jezebel lacked that instinct or Seras was wrong about her master and children. Maybe both.

V^^^V

Seras made the arrangements at the hotel since Alucard stank of human bile. He didn't seem to notice, standing off to the side with Jezebel's sleeping form cradled in his arms. He watched people come and go from the hotel's interior, seemingly overly interested in a couple of them.

Seras hurried to complete the transaction before Alucard decided to gnaw on someone.

"We're in room 213."

Alucard nodded and followed Seras to the bank of elevators. Although several people waited alongside them in the lobby, no one joined them on the elevator itself. They made their way to the second floor in relative peace.

Jezebel woke when Alucard set her on the bed. She blinked up at them but didn't say anything.

"Let's get you a bath," Seras said, setting her shopping bags down alongside the Viper's case and her backpack, "unless you want the bathroom first, master?"

"No. I will get the coffins."

Seras frowned at the condition of his duster but didn't argue. She picked the girl up and went to the bathroom to draw a bath. A moment later, Alucard walked past the door on his way out of the room, his duster as pristine as when they arrived in Sicily.

**End note:**

Heh…Alucard and his wonderful regenerative abilities. Why shouldn't that extend to his clothing? Good thing for Jezebel she's a Hellsing. Who knows what might have happened otherwise?

xVentressx: Thank you for calling the last chapter awesome. I loved the idea of Alucard going ballistic and had so much fun with that.

TheAkatsukiPet: Yes. Go Alucard. No one kicks ass quite like he does.

NinjaChipmunk: I'm glad you like the story. Here's the new chapter. *wink*


	8. Homecoming

Note: Oh, wow. Lots of reviews. Lots of follows. Woot! Just so everyone following this knows, I've started posting the prequel I had mentioned before. It's called The Bird of Hermes. I'm probably going to alternate posting chapters of this and chapters of that until the prequel is all posted. Please go check it out. I had fun with it.

Disclaimer: Hellsing roxxors, but does not belong to me.

**Ch. 8: Homecoming**

Jezebel sat in the corner of the train's sleeper car with her knees tucked up to her chest. She traced the words on the coffin beneath her, thinking about their meaning. _The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame._

Although she could read them, she didn't truly comprehend them. She had no idea who Hermes was and her mind got hung up on the visual of a bird trying to eat its own wings. While possible, it didn't seem very feasible…or sensible.

A knock came at the door to the tiny compartment. Hopping down from the top of the coffin, she hurried to the door and opened it a crack.

"Dinner delivery."

The diner attendant held out a brown paper bag. Jezebel opened the door just enough to receive it and a bottle of water. When the attendant tried to peer curiously into the car, the girl shut the door in her face.

Locking the door behind her, she padded barefoot across the carpet and sat down on the floor next to the bed with the black coffin on it. A thump came from inside. Smiling, she reached up to pat the coffin's side, just loud enough to let the sleepy vampire inside know that she was safe and hadn't left the sleeper car.

Opening her bag of goodies, she pulled out a turkey sandwich. Having learned from her previous experience, she took her time unwrapping it and taking a bite. It helped that she didn't have to wait until hunger gnawed at her belly before she could eat.

Seras had started trying to teach her proper English manners, much to Alucard's amusement. She thought of it like a game: amusing to play at but not necessary for everyday living.

Despite her efforts to keep it slow, she quickly consumed the sandwich, pickle and bag of potato chips. Crumpling up the bag, she tossed it in the corner. With a yawn, she clambered back up onto the black coffin. Grabbing a pillow, she stretched out on the hard surface and felt her eyes start to droop. Tucking the pillow under her chin, she reached up with her left hand and stroked the varnished wood with a soft shhshing sound. Sleep quickly stole over her.

V^^^V

The shifting of the coffin lid woke her. Blinking her eyes open, she watched a white-gloved hand appear under the edge of the lid. Smiling, she tapped the wood twice and scrambled off the coffin.

Alucard pushed the lid open and sat up, hooking a leg over the edge of the box. He stared down at the girl as dusk settled beyond the curtains over the train car windows.

"Good evening, Father Alucard." Jezebel had been taught to show proper respect for all adults, whether they deserved it or not. Alucard smirked at being referred to with the title of a priest. The Vatican would have a fit.

"I am not 'Father'. Only a priest would use that title."

Jezebel frowned, worried that she had offended the vampire. He was the first person she had ever respected enough to care about his opinion.

"What should I call you?"

"'Alucard' will do."

"Yes…Alucard."

The girl and the vampire studied one another. She had proven to be rather resilient. She hadn't blinked at the coffins when he brought them back to the hotel room in Milazzo. She had even gone so far as to brush a hand over the top of his. He had almost…almost warned her off, but the reverence with which she touched the polished wood made him hold his tongue.

After a bath and fresh clothes, she had begun to look eerily like a young Integra, down to the jaded look in her eyes. Her blond hair was naturally straight as a board. They must have curled it for the picture Father Whelan had given Integra. She couldn't seem to stop touching the soft velvet shirt and denim shorts Seras had picked up for her. It had taken a moment for Alucard to realize they must be the first such garments she had ever worn.

Glancing down at her feet, a smile teased the corner of his mouth. They couldn't seem to keep shoes on her feet, a fact that drove Seras to distraction.

"Did you eat?"

"Yes, Alucard."

"Good. And nothing came back up?"

Jezebel flushed with embarrassment.

"No, Alucard."

With a movement far more graceful than should be possible, the vampire levered himself out of his coffin, landing lightly on his booted feet. Standing at his full, impressive height, he let the lid slide closed behind him. Jezebel craned her neck back to look up at him.

"Are we there, yet?"

Alucard winced. She had been asking that almost constantly since they left.

"We haven't crossed the English Channel yet."

"The English Channel?"

"It's a stretch of ocean between England and the rest of Europe."

Jezebel thought back to the ferry ride from Panarea to Sicily.

"Will Miss Seras scream again?"

"Possibly, but she will be staying in her coffin for that crossing."

"Okay."

When he determined the girl didn't have any more questions, Alucard sat down on the top of his coffin, stretching his legs out and leaning back against the train's wall. He twitched the curtains aside on the window so the thinnest sliver of twilight seeped in and he could watch the countryside slide by. A moment later, Jezebel climbed up next to him, curling up with her head resting on his thigh. Alucard didn't take his eyes off the view from the window, but his gloved hand settled absently on her head and stroked the strands of hair away from her face.

V^^^V

Seras rubbed sleep from her eyes as they exited the train station. It was almost midnight, but she felt like it was the middle of the day. This whole trip had drained her, never mind how Alucard's behavior around Jezebel threw her off balance. A thousand times, the girl had done things that Seras expected Alucard to explode over, but he never did.

The child asked incessant questions, had no manners, threw up all over him, climbed into his lap at random times and even dared to _touch_ his coffin. And Alucard tolerated it. All of it.

Shaking her head with confusion, Seras hurried to catch up with her master. He had Jezebel perched on his hip, her arms draped over his shoulders. She drooled on his duster and a small snore emanated from her open mouth. Still recovering from her wounds at the hands of the Vatican, Jezebel had spent most of the trip home sleeping.

Matheson, the new Hellsing butler, waited for them with the Bentley. Behind the sleek black car, a moving truck with some of Hellsing's soldiers in the cabin idled in wait to take the coffins back to the Hellsing manor.

Matheson lifted one eyebrow at the sight of the fearsome vampire Alucard carrying a little girl, but otherwise didn't comment. The vampire tucked his charge into the middle of the backseat and climbed in beside her. Seras got in on the other side. The butler took his place behind the steering wheel and started the engine.

"Sir Integra has been apprised of your arrival and will be awake to greet her heir."

Alucard didn't answer as he watched London slide by outside the car window so Seras piped up for him.

"That's great. I'm sure Jezebel can't wait to meet her."

V^^^V

Integra gazed out of her office window at the moon-drenched Hellsing grounds. She clenched an unlit cigar between her teeth. At the suggestion of the Hellsing physician, she had agreed not to smoke in her heir's presence, but she refused to give up the habit entirely.

She saw the headlights of the Bentley as it pulled into the driveway. Her back straightened and her chin came up. She had no idea what to expect from this child. Alucard hadn't said much when he called to report the mission a success and she hadn't pressed him. She would meet the girl soon enough.

A few minutes after the car pulled up, a knock came at her office door.

"Enter."

The door swung open and Alucard swept in. He circled the desk and went to one knee in front of his master. Integra frowned down at him. What had brought this on? Usually, he only abased himself before her in the direst of circumstances.

She glanced over to the doorway to find a young girl staring wide-eyed at Alucard's bent head. Behind her, Seras looked almost as shocked. So, no one knew what was going through the vampire's head. Well, nothing new, there.

Integra studied the girl for a moment. It was a little like staring into an age reversal mirror. Were the Hellsing genetics really that strong or had the Vatican done…something to create her? A clone, perhaps? Where _had_ she come from?

Jezebel looked from the bowing Alucard, the most powerful creature she'd ever known, to the woman he bowed to. This must be the infamous Integra that Seras and Alucard had talked about on the way from Italy. Taking her cue from the vampire, she fell to her knees and bent forward in a kow tow, a position she had been taught to use in the presence of the highest ranked members of the Vatican.

"Get up, child. You may not have been born in England, but you are a Hellsing. Have some respect."

Jezebel did as she was told, but slowly. Confusion lined her features.

"What…what's a Hellsing?"

Integra's eyes widened and her teeth clenched so tightly on the cigar that it crushed the end. Realizing what she had done, she took the thing from her mouth and, giving it a disgusted look, tossed it in the ash tray on her desk.

"What did they name you, child?"

"J-Jezebel. Err…Jezebel Iscariot, Sister Integra."

A snort of hilarity came from Alucard's bent head as Integra lifted an eyebrow. She wasn't sure what to react to first…the fact that the Vatican had named a child of Hellsing for their heretical section XIII or the child calling her by the title of a Catholic nun.

"You may refer to me as Sir Integra. I am not, nor ever will be a 'sister' in the Catholic church."

"Y-yes, s-sir."

Alucard chuckled again and Jezebel wondered what she had done wrong, now. It had been a long time since she had cared about trying to please any adults at the abbey. She'd never had any success, so she had finally given up. It was starting to look like a similar situation, here.

Scowling, the little girl lifted her head, pulled her shoulders back and met Integra's eyes with a steely look. Both of Integra's eyebrows went up, this time, and a small smile curved her lips. She would not tolerate subservience in a Hellsing. No so long as she led the organization.

"Jezebel, you are a Hellsing. You are, apparently, related to me in some way. Since you and I are the last known members of the Hellsing line, that makes you my heir. You have quite a legacy to live up to."

Jezebel frowned, not certain what an 'heir' was, but she did know what family was. She'd never had one, a fact that Sister Mary Magdalene had taken delight in reminding her of on a regular basis. She blinked at the woman towering behind the desk.

"I am a Hellsing. I…I have a family?"

Integra's stern look softened at the wonder that suffused the girl's face.

"Yes, child. From this day forth, you are Jezebel Hellsing."

"Jezebel…Hellsing."

Integra glanced down at Alucard as the girl had her moment. Had he bowed before her to establish the status quo in the household for the girl's benefit? One day, Jezebel would be his master. Best to reinforce that.

"Rise, servant."

Alucard flowed up out of his kneel with a boneless grace that she had always envied just a little, especially lately as her joints grew stiff with age.

"See that the newest Hellsing is settled and then you may retire to the basement."

Alucard grinned and bowed to his master.

"As you command, my master."

**End note:**

Blackwolfgirl88: I sent you a PM and added a little more explanation to the beginning of chapter 7 about why I consider Heinkel a guy. What it really boils down to is, Heinkel never had a gender truly assigned by Hirano, and I always thought of the character as a guy, so Heinkel is a guy in my story. Heh. Sorry if that's weird for you.

xVentressx: Of course he can! It's the only way to explain how he can get shot all to hell and then come back with his outfit intact. And the instant costume changes…I mean, come on! I think Superman must have learned from Alucard. *nods*

NinjaChipmunk: Actually, I think Alucard has a great nice side. You just have to _deserve_ the right to see it. *grin* Thank you for the comment.

Maroongrad: At your request, I added Heinkel translations on chapter 7. It did kinda need it. Personally, I think Alucard would have a soft spot for kids. Even he can only expect so much strength of will from a kid…and kids tend to be strong willed anyway, even when they're throwing temper tantrums. It's a survival thing. Add to that Jezebel's stubborn streak from hell and I think he'd be a total push over with her. Heh. Oh, and I'm working my way through your stuff. Love it to death! So glad you pointed it out for me.

Kinoko182: I'm glad I could make you laugh. Sometimes, I think I get a little too serious with this fanfic. Don't worry about it continuing. I almost have it all written. Just getting it typed, edited, etc.


	9. Nightmare

Thank you to my reviewers and followers. I hope the fic is enjoyable.

Disclaimer: Hellsing does not belong to me.

**Ch. 9: Nightmare**

Jezebel woke with a start. The barest beginnings of dawn peeked around the curtains in her room. The bed she lay in could hold ten of her with room to spare. The rest of the room stretched out around her with high, molded ceilings and a plush Persian carpet. Toys lined the walls, most of them still with tags on them. To a little girl used to an eight by eight foot cell, the place felt cavernous.

Shaking with reaction from the dream that woke her, the girl crawled to the edge of the bed and slid down to the floor. Padding barefoot across the room, she opened the door and peered out into the hallway. No one there.

Closing the room door behind her, she scampered down the hallway to the back stairs. Less than five minutes later, she stood outside the door to Alucard's domain in the basement.

Reaching up, she hauled on the door's handle with all of her slight weight. It eased open, just enough to admit the body of a slim ten year old girl. She slipped inside and found Alucard draped across his throne, sipping from a blood packet. A single candle on the table beside him provided the only light in the room.

"Shut the door."

Jezebel turned and hauled the door shut. With the latch clicked into place, she scurried across the room and climbed into the vampire's lap. He moved an arm to make room for her, still sucking on the blood packet. Jezebel didn't even give the bag of blood a second look. She knew what he ate, and where it came from. Wrapping her arms around his chest, she rested her head against his shoulder.

"I dreamed, Alu."

She had taken to calling him that, a child's endearment. He hadn't bothered to correct her.

"What did you dream, little master?"

"I dreamed of hurting Sir Integra. Don't let me hurt her, Alu. Please don't let me hurt her."

V^^^V

Jezebel fidgeted with the hem of her dress as she cast furtive glances at the man seated on the couch perpendicular to hers. He had a thatch of graying hair on his head and wore a gray three piece suit. The office lights glinted off his glasses.

"I hear that you have dreams, Jezebel. Bad ones? Will you tell me about them?"

The girl bit her lip and stared at her fidgeting hands. She shook her head. How could she tell this man, this stranger, about her dreams? He would use the information to punish her…somehow.

"You don't have to be afraid to talk to me. I'm here to help you."

Stubbornly, the girl refused to speak. She had agreed when Alucard told her Integra wanted her to speak to a dream expert, but at the time, she had assumed the vampire would be with her when she did. She didn't trust this man. He sounded too much like one of the priests from the abbey when they were trying to get a confession out of her.

"Okay. We don't have to talk about your dreams. Why don't you tell me about…Alucard?"

This request elicited a dark glare from the girl. She turned on the couch so she faced away from the psychiatrist and tucked her knees up under her chin. Sighing, the man reached over to stop the tape recording of their session.

"I can't help you if you won't talk to me."

Jezebel tightened the arms wrapped around her legs, tucking her knees into her chin. Her still tender back twinged at the thought of the beating she expected to receive for refusing to talk to this man, but that fear didn't sway her.

"Fine. You can go, but I will have to tell Sir Integra of your refusal to cooperate."

Watching the man like she suspected he was lying about letting her go, Jezebel hopped off the couch and hurried out the door. She kicked off her shoes and fled down the hallway, down the stairs and through the heavy door of Alucard's dungeon. At ten in the morning, the vampire was sound asleep in his coffin.

Padding across the stone floor, Jezebel climbed up onto the polished wooden box. She curled up on her side and lay there, shivering and stroking the varnished wood.

V^^^V

"I'm sorry, Sir Integra. She wouldn't speak to me at all. Not so much as a peep."

Integra nodded at Dr. Bernstein's update. She turned to the woman she had hired to tutor the girl.

"Has she mentioned anything to you, Mrs. Carringer?"

The elderly woman shook her head.

"She does her sums and her reading and writing skills are quickly advancing, but she barely speaks to me. Most of the time, I have to draw the questions out of her."

Integra leaned back in her chair, tapping a pen against her chin. To hear Seras tell it, the child wouldn't shut up on the way home. What had changed? Maybe she should have Alucard speak to the girl? For some reason, she had latched onto him as some kind of parental figure. Integra shuddered at the thought. No. If anything, Alucard would find a way to encourage the behavior, even if she specifically ordered him not to. He seemed to have a soft spot for the child. She only wished she had a clue what that would mean for the girl's emotional development.

"Very well. Dr. Bernstein, I want you to attempt the play therapy that we discussed. Don't push the child. We still don't know everything she has suffered through with the Vatican, but if the injuries she came home with are any indication then it doesn't look good. Let me know if either of you notices anything you think is important."

"Of course, madam."

V^^^V

Jezebel perched in a chair on the other side of Integra's desk, legs crossed in the seat and a notebook in her lap. A textbook balanced precariously on the arm of the chair. Her tongue peeked out of the corner of her mouth as she copied down a mathematical equation. She loved math. Everything made _sense_. Once she learned the rules, they never changed. Five plus six would _always_ be eleven. Nothing anyone else said or did would ever change that.

She scribbled out the solution to the problem next to it, careful to include the steps she had taken to arrive at that answer. Mrs. Carringer was a stickler for that. As she finished the problem, she looked up. Integra had a laptop set up on her desk that she examined with single-minded concentration. Jezebel suspected she had been forgotten, but she didn't mind. She preferred it when adults ignored her. Too much attention had always ended in pain and misery at the abbey.

Her eyes drifted to the top of the desk where a stack of opened mail sat next to a serrated letter opener. Her eyes grew wide.

Integra scowled at that month's expense report. Hellsing's funding had come under close scrutiny lately and there was talk of reducing it. She didn't particularly mind. She had increased the organization's efficiency over the last three decades so they could afford some funding cuts, but she didn't want her most loyal employees to fall victim to layoffs. They had plenty of capital stashed away, but most of it was tied up in investments and not immediately accessible. If she could safely cut some corners, that would give her some wiggle room if the funding cuts did happen.

"Whatchya doin'?"

Integra's scowl deepened at the sound of Jezebel's voice. She looked over at the girl who had risen from her seat in front of the desk. She stood to the side of the mahogany desk and something about her stance felt…wrong. The words that had come out of her mouth didn't sound like her. Even the accent was different. The wide-eyed frightened look on her face didn't match the letter opener clutched like a dagger in her hand.

"Jezebel? What…?"

The girl launched herself at Integra, eyes still wide with fright but every other line of her body intent on the kill. Years of sword training and hand to hand combat kicked in as Integra grabbed for the wrist of the hand that held the letter opener. Jezebel clawed at her face with her other hand, the one with the bandage on the pinky finger. She didn't even wince as the injured finger hit the eye patch over the left side of Integra's face. The woman's glasses clattered to the floor.

Integra grabbed the girl's other wrist and grappled with her, shocked at the sheer strength the child brought to bear. Even in her fifties, she should be hale enough to fend off the attack of an underweight ten year old girl, but she found herself struggling to keep the letter opener from plunging home in her neck.

"Alucard!"

She might have called for Seras as well, but the sun hadn't sunk below the horizon yet and the younger vampire still took more effort to wake during the day than her older master, especially since her will wasn't bound to Hellsing in the same way.

Alucard phased up through the floor to find Jezebel crouching in Integra's lap, bearing down on the hand that held the letter opener dangerously close to his master's throat. Tears poured down the child's face as though her world was ending before her eyes.

Swooping down on the pair, Alucard plucked the child from Integra's lap. She went wild, thrashing and slashing at him with the improvised weapon. The vampire's eyes flew wide in shock at her unnatural strength. She got in one slash, two. Blood poured from a cut just under his right eye as he knocked the letter opener from her hand.

"Don't kill her." Integra sat forward, exhaustion written across her features. Alucard dropped to his knees, curling himself over the girl, creating a cage for her with his body. She raged for another minute, the only sound in the office that of her thrashing against her captor.

Suddenly, as though something snapped in her brain, the girl sagged against Alucard. Great, wracking sobs burst from her chest and tears poured down her face. She grabbed for the lapel of the vampire's duster and buried her face in the cloth.

Alucard sat back on his heels, holding Jezebel in place with one hand as she sobbed with the power of a child's broken heart. He looked up at his master with a quizzical scowl.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. She was working on her lessons and then she was beside the desk with my letter opener. Her strength…"

Alucard looked down at the girl and nodded.

"Unnatural. But she is fully human. I would swear it."

Jezebel's sobs were growing quieter, muffled by Alucard's duster. She gripped his other lapel, holding on as though it was the only thing keeping her from plunging over a steep precipice.

She began mumbling something under her breath and the vampire cocked his head to catch it.

"No…no…no…go away…don't make me…don't touch me…leave Sir Integra alone!"

Alucard looked up at his master. Somehow, he didn't think the girl was talking to either of them.

**End Note:**

xVentressx: I dunno about that. Superman is pretty good. He might give Alucard a run for his money. Alucard would *love* it. Talk about a challenge.

Web Slinger Spidey: It's getting there. I hope you like the rest of the fic. Thanks for the comment.


	10. The Real Culprit

Disclaimer: I think I may discontinue use of disclaimers except on chapter one. Probably next fanfic, I will. Everyone should know I don't own Hellsing by now. Heh.

**Ch. 10: The Real Culprit**

Jezebel curled up on the massive bed in her room, eyes hot and dry, her tears cried out. She stared at the wall feeling empty and hollow. She felt like she'd had another nightmare, but there was no waking up this time. She couldn't run downstairs to curl up in Alucard's lap or on his coffin. The door to her room was locked.

Rolling over, she stared at the ceiling. Sir Integra had interrogated her, but she knew her answers weren't what the woman had wanted to hear. She had no words for what had happened. The best she could do to describe it was that there was another Jezebel inside her that had taken over. She certainly hadn't _wanted_ to attack Sir Integra, but her body had been ignoring her brain's commands.

Worst of all, Alucard had looked at her with such censure. It made her want to die. No. It made her want to _kill_ whatever had made her put that look on his face.

Clenching her teeth, she rolled over to her hands and knees. She crawled across the bed to slide to the floor. Crossing the room, she leaned on a window sill so she could look out over the grounds. An insidious voice in the back of her mind whispered that she should see if the window would open. She could get out if it did, find Sir Integra…apologize.

Shaking her head, she backed away from the window, hands over her ears as though she could block the voice if she couldn't hear anything. She had no intention of escaping. Sir Integra had told her to stay in her room. More importantly, _Alucard_ had said the same thing. The voice would have to possess her body again to make her budge from this room.

To her horror, she felt a sense of jovial agreement in the back of her mind and her hands moved to test the window latches of their own accord. She took a breath to scream…and nothing came out. Helpless to prevent it, she watched her hands open the latches and push the panes open. A stiff wind whipped into the room as she leaned out to look at the ground…two stories below.

A litany of "No, no, no, _please_ no!" started up in her head but the only answer she got was a maniacal cackle. Completely independent of her desires, her body climbed up on the window sill and crouched there, staring at the ground below. With a small hop, she jumped from the window sill and the force of her terror as she fell allowed one long, high pitched scream to escape her throat.

V^^^V

Alucard's head whipped up like a hound on a scent. Integra and Dr. Bernstein looked over at him as he rose to his feet and dashed from the room. Standing, Integra raced after him, but he quickly outdistanced her. What had set him off?

By the time she figured out he had gone outside, she was beginning to feel winded. Heading for the front door, she stopped dead as he returned, a shivering Jezebel clutched in his arms.

"What happened? She was supposed to be in her room."

"She jumped from the window. She has an injured ankle."

A thousand questions ran through Integra's mind, but they could wait. She turned to Dr. Bernstein who clutched his side and wheezed from the dash through the huge house.

"Get Dr. Pelham. We'll be in the front parlor."

Alucard headed for the room in question, pushing the doors open with the power of his mind. He strode toward the couch and laid the girl out on the sofa. She stared up at the ceiling, eyes wide and blind with shock. Her left ankle was red and swollen, parts of it beginning to turn purple. Alucard knelt next to the sofa, his brow furrowed.

Integra sat on the sofa next to the girl's head and reached out to smooth the hair away from the child's sweating forehead.

"What was she thinking?"

"I am beginning to wonder if it is _her_ doing these things." Integra narrowed her eyes at her vampire servant, but he didn't even glance at her. His eyes studied Jezebel's shocked face as they waited for the doctor. "Returning from Italy, and even in Panarea, everything she did spoke of an intense desire to _survive_. This…this is reckless. Even a child would know that jumping from a second story window could result in serious injury. I can only see her doing that if another, greater danger threatened."

"Go check her room. See if you can find anything odd."

Alucard's teeth clenched as the strength of the Hellsing seal bore down on his will, pushing him to obey. Rarely did he experience this conflict, but for once, he didn't want to follow Integra's orders.

"My master, I would not leave you alone with her, if you would permit me to stay."

"I don't see what she can do, injured as she is. Go and check her room. You'll know better than anyone if anything is wrong."

Unable to refuse, Alucard rose and left the room. Integra stared down at the girl, wishing she had a cigar. Something about this situation tugged at the edge of her memory. Had she seen this somewhere before? It matched some of the medical texts she had studied on psychiatry. But Dr. Berstein had said he didn't believe Jezebel suffered from any of the major mental disorders. They could match one symptom from one disorder and one from another, but definitive diagnosis required matching two to four symptoms, depending on the disorder.

Jezebel blinked, but her eyes continued to stare into space, as though she didn't see anything around her…as though she wasn't in there anymore.

"Jezebel?"

No response. Integra hadn't exactly expected one, but she had to rule out certain variables. She reached out to touch the girl again and suddenly, Jezebel's eyes focused on her face. A dark grin that looked like it belonged more on Alucard's face twisted her lips.

"If you would speak with me, then call me by the proper name."

Integra shot to her feet and backed away from the girl on the couch. That was _not_ Jezebel's voice. That eerie smile widened and a chill skittered down Integra's spine. She had faced vampires, ghouls, werewolves and insane Nazis. None of them made her shiver like that mad grin on the face of a little girl.

Drs. Bernstein and Pelham chose that moment to come through the door. Integra held an arm out to keep them from going any further. Jezebel sat up on the couch, that insane grin stretched across her face. She stood, setting her weight on her injured foot as though it weren't turning black and blue as they watched.

"What is…"

Integra held a hand up to stop Dr. Bernstein from speaking. His mouth closed with a snap as Jezebel's eyes latched onto him and her head tilted to the side at a painful angle.

"Who are you?" Integra asked.

Dr. Bernstein looked at the head of the Hellsing organization like she'd lost her mind…never a good thing coming from a psychiatrist. Dr. Pelham didn't even blink. He'd been employed by the Hellsing family much longer than the psychiatrist.

"An intelligent question…and so quickly. Apparently, you're as smart as they said you were." Dr. Berstein's eyes grew wide at the low, rough voice that rumbled up out of the girl's chest. "I am Araqiel."

"Funny that the Vatican didn't notice a demon possession in their midst," said Integra, narrowing her eye at the girl.

"Oh, they noticed. They're the ones that put me here."

Integra couldn't quite suppress the shocked look that crossed her features. She had known that Iscariot walked a fine line between piety and blasphemy, but to traffic with demons…

"Why?"

Jezebel laughed but it wasn't a little girl's laugh. Integra shivered as the hairs rose on the back of her neck and down her spine.

"For him." Jezebel/Araqiel pointed at the ceiling as the hem of Alucard's red duster phased through the plaster. The vampire dropped into the room just beside the possessed girl. He planted a gloved hand on her chest and pushed her into a sitting position on the couch. With one knee on the sofa and the other hand bracing himself against the back of the couch as he loomed over her, he held the girl in place. Jezebel/Araqiel grinned up at him. Integra moved back toward the couch and caught the look on Alucard's face. A grin equally wild and manic stretched across his features.

"You have me, Lord of Earth. Now, what?"

That eerie laugh echoed through the room again.

"Now, nothing. You cannot kill this host unless your master orders it. Well, Integra? Will you have your pet vampire destroy your heir?"

Integra grit her teeth. Fury at what the Vatican had done raced through her. Of course she would only order Alucard to kill another Hellsing if all other options had already been exhausted. Someone in Italy knew her entirely too well.

"Why have you revealed yourself, now?"

"Oh, I _do_ like her. So forceful and commanding. Is that what makes her so attractive to you, Alucard? Does your master whip you in the basement until you beg for more?"

Integra blushed bright red and hoped Jezebel wasn't aware of what the demon was using her body to say…or at least didn't understand what it meant. Alucard's low chuckle rumbled up out of his chest.

"I do what my master bids me. _Whatever_ my master bids me."

He was _not_ helping.

"Just answer the question, demon, before I call for an exorcist."

The demon laughed.

"A protestant exorcism? Your priest would have to believe I exist before _anything_ he did could be effective.

If the thing hadn't been hiding in the body of her ten year old heir, Integra would have ordered Alucard to destroy it a hundred times over already.

"I want him," the demon said, gazing into Alucard's eyes with a lustful look that no ten year old should ever wear on their face. "I was promised him, years and years ago. I've waited so long, jumping from one sniveling host to the next, lying in wait, always waiting. But I can't take him with this host. Not now. Not so long as _you_ live!" At this, the girl's crazed eyes shifted to Integra. The woman's one blue eye narrowed.

"Why would you want Alucard?"

"The sin, woman, the sin! You're supposed to be _smart_! So much sin on one soul. I could feast for an eon!"

"And how is my life stopping you?"

"Oh, you disappoint me with these inane questions! Hellsing is the only thing to have ever truly defeated Alucard. Millennium _removed_ him…for a time, but it's not the same thing. Not the same thing at all! Only the Hellsing seal can bring him low enough for me to consume him, and so long as _you_ live, _this_ host cannot order him to submit to me."

Integra felt the blood drain from her face as the Vatican's plan became clear to her. By rescuing the girl, they had brought the viper itself into their midst. So that still didn't explain why the demon had revealed itself to them, now. It could have lain in wait until she died naturally and mastership of Alucard fell to Jezebel. There had to be another piece to the puzzle.

"You must know we will have you exorcised, now that we know you're there."

"Will you? Will you really? You must know that, as tightly wrapped around the girl's psyche as I am, removing me would destroy her mind. A blathering idiot does not make a good heir, Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. But, if you give me Alucard, I will let her go, mind whole and intact. I am _tired_ of waiting."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then your precious heir will slowly go insane, and you will have no one to blame but your…" Jezebel/Araqiel winced, a pained look crossing the girl's features. Integra frowned, looking over at the two doctors. They just mirrored her own, confused look.

Jezebel screamed, the rough, guttural voice gone. Her eyes flew wide as she paused to take a breath and screamed again. Her body convulsed and she vomited pure bile, managing to avoid hitting Alucard this time. The vampire collapsed onto the couch next to the child and helped her lean over so the foul stream spewing from her mouth hit the floor where it would be a little easier to clean.

Before long, nothing but dry heaves wracked her body. The human stomach didn't actually hold that much bile.

"I think the demon has retreated," Alucard said as the girl's heaves petered off into hiccupping sobs. She turned to clutch at him, burying her face in his chest.

"Fetch Matheson, Dr. Bernstein," Integra said, grabbing a box of tissues and bringing them to the vampire. "Dr. Pelham, if you would see to her foot?"

The doctors jerked as though snapping out of a daze. The Hellsing physician leaped into action first, joining Alucard on the couch to examine the girl's ankle and check for any other harm she might have taken that he could do something about.

Dr. Bernstein slipped out the door to look for the butler, relieved he didn't have to go anywhere near the girl and wondering if he should look for a new position…maybe one in a prison ward. It couldn't be any stranger than _this_.

**End Note:**

Web Slinger Spidey: I hope you're enjoying the direction it's taking. I had a lot of fun with this story.

xVentressx: I don't know about that. Alucard does show affection for his people…but in very Alucard sorts of ways. And Integra likes the kid. It's just that Integra isn't a very demonstrative person and she only recently met her…and then she tried to kill her. Heh. Seras is just confused by the kid.


	11. To Oust a Demon

Note: So…I go a little religious in this chapter. I know religion can be a delicate subject, but it *is* a big part of Hellsing and although we never see Integra going to church or anything, she does refer to herself as a protestant knight…which by definition would make her a Christian, probably part of the Church of England. A lot of this is based on concepts that I've learned about (I am a Christian myself. Yes, I'm huge into vampires. No, I don't profess to explain myself on that count. Lol), but may or may not be widely accepted. It's just a story. I apologize if anyone is offended by any of the religious references in this chapter.

**Ch. 11: To Oust a Demon**

Alucard dropped the metal bar into the brackets on either side of the steel door and flipped the locks into place. After making sure everything was secure, he phased through the wall.

Jezebel sat on a small twin sized bed, her injured foot stretched out in front of her and wrapped in an ace bandage. Maroon drapes covered the stone walls of the tiny cell, her new home. A lush rug covered the stone floor and a tall lamp in the corner cast a warm glow on everything. She appreciated the effort Matheson had put into making the place comfortable, and it still beat the room she had stayed in at the abbey, but she didn't delude herself about what it was: a prison. One that would hold her more securely than her room upstairs…or rather, hold the demon within her.

Her eyes lit up as Alucard came through the wall. They had placed a high-backed solid wood chair beside her bed. It took up most of the space left in the tiny room. Alucard had insisted.

He glanced at Jezebel with an empty expression as he took the two steps to the chair and collapsed into it with his boneless grace. He fished around under the lapel of his red duster and pulled out a blood packet. Nipping the main IV port off, he sipped from the tube like a child with a juice box.

Jezebel stared at her bandaged foot, wanting to say something but not sure what. She suspected the vampire must be angry with her, but he hadn't done _anything_ that she had learned to expect at the abbey when she misbehaved. She hadn't received a beating. They hadn't told her how evil she was or that she was bound straight for hell when she died. Even here, in an obvious prison, she had company.

Settling down on her bed, she rolled on her side and stared at Alucard's knee where it crossed his other leg. The vampire glanced down at her and rose. Fetching a pillow from the foot of the bed, he carefully lifted her injured foot and pushed the pillow under it so it would be elevated. Still sipping form his blood packet, he returned to his seat and looked down at her.

"Have you given up?"

Jezebel frowned and looked up at Alucard.

"What?"

"Have you given up? You do not speak. You stare into space as though waiting for the axe to fall. Have you given up?"

"I…I don't understand."

"Have you given yourself up to your fate? Will you let this thing inside of you destroy you?"

Jezebel scowled and shook her head, hard.

"I will fight it until I'm dead…although I don't know if I'm strong enough to defeat it. I'll fight it until I can't fight anymore."

"You don't act like you're fighting anything."

"It's gone, right now. Gone wherever it goes when it's not…here. I'm waiting for my punishment."

"Punishment?" Alucard asked, one eyebrow quirking with surprise.

"I attacked Sir Integra. I disobeyed both of you. I'm waiting for my punishment. There's always punishment."

"Interesting." Alucard sipped from his bag of blood, contemplating the girl. He liked her determination to fight the demon. Although he agreed she might not have the strength to win the battle, she would never know what she could do if she didn't _try_.

"Giving up is what kills people," Alucard said, repeating what he'd said to Walter so long ago. "See that you don't give up, little master, and I will do everything in my power to help you overcome."

Jezebel blinked up at the vampire and a slow smile spread across her face. She reached out and laid her hand on his knee. Snuggling into her pillows, she closed her eyes and relaxed.

Alucard contemplated the hand on his knee as he finished the last of his blood packet. He wasn't accustomed to being touched. Although Integra and Seras both loved him in their different ways, they both feared him to some extent. Not that it bothered him. He was a monster. He _liked_ being a monster. He liked serving his master and doing the dirty work that never ceased to horrify her. But she did not touch him. She did not reach out to him for comfort. He wasn't a comfortable or comforting creature. The fact that this child sought comfort from him continually puzzled him, but as it went on, more and more he was concluding that he might…_like_ it.

V^^^V

Integra paced in front of her office window. Father James Mitchell, a priest of the Church of England and head of her Demon Extermination Unit, lounged on the loveseat that sat perpendicular to her desk. He tapped on the keys of the computer in his lap, reviewing some documents that he felt might apply to Jezebel's case.

"What _I_ don't understand," Integra said, "is how the demon possessed her to begin with. She's ten years old. She is barely self aware enough to know the difference between good and evil. What could she have possibly done to invite it in? And how long has it been there? It sounded like it had possessed her _years_ ago."

"From birth, I suspect," Father Mitchell said. "Most likely, if the Vatican put it there, she has had it since she was born."

"What? How?" Integra turned to glare at the priest.

"Original sin. Sins of the father…or the mother. Born in sin. There are many phrases for it."

"That's a false doctrine. A child does not inherit its parent's sin. Children are held blameless before the Lord until they are self aware enough to choose."

"Then why do we practice infant baptism?" Father Mitchell set his laptop aside on the table beside the loveseat. He rose, smoothing the royal blue tie over his black, button down shirt. Running a hand through his short, dark hair, he joined Integra at the window.

"The concept of original sin is an old one and often misunderstood. We have many counts of demon possession in children documented. How can this be possible if sin does not first exist in the possessed soul? There are strict requirements for a demon to possess a soul…chief among them, the presence of sin."

"But…how is that fair?"

Father Mitchell laughed and smiled at his employer.

"Always a believer in justice, Integra. But you, of all people, should know that life isn't fair. Is it fair for a child to be born with severe brain damage because its mother indulged in alcohol and mind altering drugs during her pregnancy? Of course not but you know as well as I that it happens. The sin of the mother, paid for by the child."

Integra grit her teeth and turned to face the window, arms crossed over her chest.

"So, we know how it must have gotten in. How do we get it out of her?"

Father Mitchell turned to face the window beside her, hands clasped behind his back. He looked up at the sliver of moon riding high in the sky

"I suspect they never baptized her, else the demon would not have been able to get a hold. We could start there."

"Baptism?" Integra frowned at her priest. She vaguely remembered her own confirmation as a girl. She had, of course, been baptized at birth like every Hellsing in the history of her family. It never occurred to her that the child might not be baptized.

"Can you perform the rite, father?"

The priest grinned at her.

"Baptizing the demon possessed. Sounds like fun. We'll need a decent sized body of water. I wouldn't want to attempt this with anything less than full immersion."

"Will the pool do?" Integra thought of the lap pool they had added to the soldier training barracks six years ago. Father Mitchell chuckled.

"Any water will do and that is certainly deep enough, but I may ask for SCUBA gear. I'd hate to drown."

V^^^V

Jezebel stared at the lap pool, only four lanes wide, but it seemed like a mile long. Alucard stood behind her, a hand on her shoulder keeping her steady as she balanced on one foot. He watched Father Mitchell making his preparations, turning away every time the man made the sign of the cross.

"Are you sure you want to be here?" Integra asked the vampire. His jaw clenched but his eyes remained unreadable behind his spectacles. This had to be excruciating for him. He might have greater immunity to holy objects than the typical vampire, but even he had to feel the strain of being in the presence of such a sacred rite.

"I will remain. Demons are unpredictable. I will be here when you challenge it."

Integra nodded. She _could_ order him to leave, but somehow, she felt more comfortable with him in the room.

Father Mitchell approached but stopped about six feet away.

"I'm ready," he said, giving a wary nod to Alucard. Strangely enough, priest or not, he'd never shown any animosity toward the vampire, but he also wouldn't come too close to the creature.

Integra held her hand out to Jezebel. The girl looked between the priest and the woman. They had explained what was expected of her. All she had to do was confess that she believed in God and that Jesus Christ was His Son…which she did…and follow their instructions. She craned her neck back to look up at Alucard.

"You're _sure_ it won't hurt if I touch you after this?"

Integra blinked. Of all the things for the child to be worried about, she had to obsess over the hurt the _vampire_ might take from her if she was baptized? She had to work on the girl's education. She didn't seem to understand the very real danger that vampires represented.

"I'm sure. Go."

Alucard nudged the girl toward Integra. Reluctantly, she took the woman's hand and, with her help, hobbled to the edge of the pool.

Father Mitchell slipped into the water, his white robes and vestments billowing out around him. Khaki pant legs stuck out under the hem of the robes. Reaching up, he helped Integra lower Jezebel into the water. With the girl immersed up to her shoulders, he placed a hand on her back to keep her steady and looked up at the head of the Hellsing organization.

"Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, you stand in lieu of this child's parents as head of the Hellsing family. Before God, do you declare your belief in God and His Son, Jesus Christ?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to turn away from everything which is evil or sinful and follow Christ Jesus?"

Integra's eyes flickered toward Alucard and then back to the priest.

"I do."

"Jezebel Hellsing, do you declare your belief in God and His Son, Jesus Christ?"

"He's coming!" The girls' voice barely rose above a whisper as her eyes grew wide. Father Mitchell grabbed her by the shoulders with both hands.

"Do you declare your belief, Jezebel?"

Wide, frightened blue eyes met his.

"Yes. Yes I do."

The priest dipped a thumb in the pool water and traced an invisible cross on the girl's forehead. Alucard turned away, his shoulders hunched as though to protect himself from a great wind. He retreated to a lawn chair in the corner and plopped down into it, tugging the brim of his hat down to hide his face.

Jezebel gasped as her back straightened like someone had shoved an iron rod down her spine. She grit her teeth and clenched her fists as her face began to turn red. Her head twitched like a horse trying to dislodge a fly. Once, twice. Father Mitchell pressed his damp hand to her forehead.

"Christ claims you for His own. Receive the sign of the cross."

A low growl rumbled up out of the girl's chest. Her head twitched harder as though she was trying to escape the hand on her forehead. Father Mitchell tightened his hold on her shoulder.

"Do not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified."

"Blasphemers!" The demon's voice burst from Jezebel's throat in a low, guttural scream. "Your efforts are in vain! The girl doesn't believe! She hates God! She hates Christ! You'll never dislodge me!"

Father Mitchell shifted his hand from Jezebel's shoulder to the back of her head. With the other hand, he covered her mouth and pinched her nose closed so the demon couldn't force her to breathe the water and drown her. With a well placed foot sweep, he plunged her beneath the water and hauled her up again. She came out of the water screaming behind the hand covering her mouth. In the corner, Alucard twitched as thought he'd like nothing more than to strangle Father Mitchell at that moment.

"Receive Christ and reject all evil influence!"

Down she went and back up again. Jezebel thrashed as though the water burned her. Screams ripped out of her throat as fast as she could draw breath. Father Mitchell braced himself, struggling to keep the writhing girl under control.

"Cast off the shackles of sin. In Christ, be redeemed!"

Once more, the priest shoved the girl beneath the surface of the water and brought her up again. Jezebel threw her head back in a long, drawn out howl that sucked the breath from her lungs. A red mist poured from her mouth, coalescing over the priest's head. A pair of yellow, snake slit eyes formed from the mist, glaring with deep seated lust at the vampire across the room.

"Alucard!" Integra's sharp voice rose above Jezebel's howl as it began to peter off for lack of air. The vampire slowly lifted his head until a single red eye peered out over the rim of his spectacles. A dark, maniacal grin split his face.

"Yes, my master? Your orders, my master? I need an order, my master!" His voice rose with each sentence, ending on a note of frenzied demand.

"Terminate with extreme prejudice, my servant. Release restriction level four…level three…level two…level one. Leaving nothing behind!"

As the last of the red mist poured from Jezebel's exhausted body, a fanged, gaping maw formed below the eyes in the roiling crimson fog. Wicked, dark claws appeared, dripping black sludge into the pristine waters of the pool.

Alucard rose to his full height, his hair lifting in an invisible wind, tendrils of shadow writhing out of the pitch strands. His grinning mouth opened and an ecstatic laugh reverberated through the echoing room.

"At last! Araqiel, Lord of Earth. Come and devour me, Fallen One…if you can!"

**End Note:**

xVentressx: I don't know if I would call Seras stupid…just naïve. Heh.

TheAkatsukiPet: I chortled so much when I wrote Alucard's line in that exchange. It just seems so much like HIM to exacerbate an already embarrassing situation for Integra. Heh.


	12. Heart of a Monster

Note: Presenting Alucard with a real challenge is incredibly difficult. Even Hirano had to resort to quantum mechanics and imaginary numbers. Stupid overpowered vampire…and yet, I wouldn't have him any other way. *grin*

**Ch. 12: Heart of a Monster**

A dark red mist floated across the ceiling of the pool room. Lurid yellow eyes, slit like a snake's, glared out of its writhing depths. It drizzled thick, black sludge into the pool below like a toxic rain cloud from hell.

Father James Mitchell glanced at the drops of sludge that hissed as they sank into the water. Jezebel slouched in his arms, eyes closed and face slack with unconsciousness.

"I think it might be best if we clear out while the vampire deals with the demon," he said, lifting the girl in his arms and handing her dripping body up to Integra. She stooped to receive the child and clutched her to her chest, not caring about the water that soaked her shirt and ran down her front.

Father Mitchell levered himself out of the pool like an Olympic swimmer, unimpeded by the weight of his soaked robes. Priest he might be, but it took strength of both mind and body to work for Integra Hellsing.

At the end of the room, Alucard looked like a cut Gordian knot unraveling around the outside edge…or a spreading ink blot. Integra never could find words to describe what Alucard did when his power manifested like this. It defied description.

The vampire's laughter echoed around the room, tinged with a note of frenzy and hysteria. At the priest's urging, Integra dashed toward the door into the locker rooms, Jezebel clutched close to her chest. The demon ignored them, its attention focused solely on the soul that it coveted.

"Your human has her charms, doesn't she? The Vatican thinks that protestants no longer believe in the existence of the devil and his demons. They believed any attempts you made to oust me would end in failure."

"There are many things the Vatican 'knows', when in fact, they know very little, especially about Hellsing."

"They knew enough to get me into the heart of their enemy's territory."

Alucard's mocking laugh echoed around the room

"And so little that you have been ousted already."

"Oh, I'm not done, yet!"

The cloud of roiling red mist rushed forward as though caught by a stiff wind. Alucard's black tendrils whipped up to combat it as his cackle echoed all around them.

The disembodied demon snarled as the black tendrils lashed at it, scattering the mist thither and yon as though it was nothing more than a mass of obnoxious fumes to be batted away.

"You have no physical form, no combative weapon, no _life_! You are nothing! Even a monster like me will bring you low and cast you back into the pits of Hell where you belong!"

"You speak to me of having no life? _You_?" The demon cackled, its dripping claws lashing out at the vampire. "You who could not bear to die? Is _life_ truly so precious? Even now, you don't truly _live_! No-life king! You _serve_! You grovel and beg, panting after the drops of your master's blood. Does it satisfy you when she graces you with a taste from her veins? Of course not! You would devour her, body and soul, given the chance!"

Alucard chuckled.

"Of course I would. To serve my master is my greatest joy. To consume her, make her part of me…oh, it would be _glorious_!"

The demon paused and the shower of black sludge grew heavier. It shifted, the disembodied features tilted to the side as though it cocked its head at the vampire.

"That is not just a desire to consume."

The yellow, snake slit eyes grew wide as Alucard's chuckle died away and they locked eyes, the vampire's expression subsiding into a small smirk and a knowing look in those red eyes.

"You…love? Monsters do not love! It is a perversion of all that is holy. Your evil puts me and mine to shame!"

Alucard's grin cracked his face, serrated teeth bared as he laughed. His eyes took on that feral, manic tilt and glowed a deep rich red.

"What point is there in being a _monster_ if you cannot be truly monstrous?"

"You _cannot_ love! How dare you touch that which is sacred?"

"You, a _demon_? You accuse me of violating what is sacred?" Alucard's hysterical laugh echoed through the room. "You can only know the lowest of emotions because you have never been among God's chosen people You have never known what it felt like to be _human_!"

"Heretic!"

"Fiend!"

The mists which had been seeping over the vampire's head lunged at him, rushing past the barrier of shadowy tendrils. Swirling around his head, they enveloped Alucard as he laughed. The fog sank into him, flowing into his gaping maw. His manic chortleThe vampire's chortlechch ended on a 'hurk' as his grin dropped away and his eyes flew wide. The black tendrils waving around him retreated into the physical bounds of his body, sucked in as though a black hole opened up in the middle of his chest. With eyes still wide, Alucard's knees buckled and his body crumpled onto its side, boneless as a corpse. Several strands of hair draped over his face as his eyes stared into empty space, set into an expression of utter shock and surprise.

V^^^V

Darkness enveloped everything. Alucard turned his head, unaccustomed to not being able to penetrate the darkness with his vampiric vision. He moved but heard nothing, felt nothing. Had he even truly moved at all? Frowning, he dropped into an undead stillness and contemplated this new state of existence.

He had experienced something like this before…thirty years ago…except this wasn't exactly the same. This time, he wasn't lost in the multitude of identities within him. He still knew himself. And he hadn't watched the sun set on his defeat.

"Sensory deprivation, Araqiel? Do you seek to drive me mad? You cannot duplicate what has already occurred."

He didn't _hear_ the words he spoke, nor could he feel his lips moving. He might as well be speaking with Seras telepathically. The demon's dark chuckle echoed all around him. A dark joy welled up inside him. He would have broken out in a manic grin, had he possessed a physical body in this place.

"Do you truly believe you are mad, vampire? Or do you just wish it so?" Araqiel appeared before him, as visible as though they were surrounded by light, but framed by the inky darkness. He had pale, fair skin and warm silver eyes. Alucard could see the angel the demon once was in those eyes. "Welcome to Hell."

Wails erupted all around them and intense cold descended on them. Three figures appeared out of the darkness. One had long, platinum blond hair and a patch over her left eye. She had her arms wrapped around herself as she shivered, but she stubbornly clenched her jaw against the chattering of her teeth. She glared into the darkness with a steely look in her remaining eye.

At her feet, a short-haired, buxom blond sat with her knees tucked up to her chest, her face buried in her arms. Her skin had turned the faint blue of a hypothermia victim and she didn't move, not even to shiver.

In front of them, a child's body sprawled, eyes staring into the darkness and filmed over with frost. Her golden hair lay lank and dull on an invisible floor and frost formed around her nose and lips.

"They're doomed, you know. Just like your Mina. The devil has a berth in Hell reserved just for them." The demon's voice echoed around them as though they stood in an empty stadium.

"I have sent millions to their fates, many of them bound for Hell." This time, his voice echoed alongside the demon's. He looked down and saw his red duster, cravat and the white gloves on his hands. The women in front of him suddenly colored orange as his spectacles appeared.

"But did you _love_ them? Were _you_ the reason they were bound for Hell?" Araqiel turned and strode toward the tableau, long silvery white hair flowing behind him. He wore a dark blue business suit with shined black shoes. He reached out to touch Integra's blond hair and Alucard squelched the urge to snarl at him.

"They have made their choices. Seras could have chosen to die. Integra could have me sealed away…or destroyed."

"And the girl? She adores you, you know. The dark angel that lifted her up out of her own, personal hell. Do you think she truly has the knowledge, the experience, to _choose_ whether to doom her soul by associating with a creature of darkness?"

Alucard looked down at the vision of Jezebel, sprawled as though in death.

"They all have the chance to choose. Each person is the captain of their own fate."

"You don't really believe that." Araqiel turned and pierced him with a silver eye. "How many have you seduced? How many have you tricked? Before Van Helsing, you took what you wanted, when you wanted it, the consequences be damned. Even now, you slaver and you devour. Only the seals placed on you by the Hellsing family keep you in check."

Araqiel strode toward the vampire. His mouth opened in a snarl, eyes bleeding to black. Alucard backpedaled, his eyes going wide until he fetched up against an invisible barrier. Huge, shadowy bat wings limned in silver ripped out of Araqiel's back, raining sludge into the darkness. He grew as he walked until he towered over the vampire, that silver hair whipping around him as though caught in a tempest.

"You are in _my_ world now, count! You have swallowed my essence and now I will devour your soul!"

V^^^V

Integra laid Jezebel on a bench in the locker room and checked to make sure she still breathed. Father Mitchell followed behind her and knelt next to the girl. Popping open a Tupperware container he had grabbed on the way out, he dipped a thumb in the oil inside.

"May God, who has received you by baptism into His Church, pour upon you the riches of his grace," he said, smearing the oil across the girl's forehead, "that within the company of Christ's pilgrim people you may daily be renewed by His anointing Spirit and come to the inheritance of the saints in glory."

After the demon's emergence, the closing ritual of the baptism felt anticlimactic.

"Does it count if she's unconscious at the end?" Integra asked.

"She said her part. It counts." Father Mitchell replaced the top on his Tupperware and stood to start stripping the soaked robes off. Integra fetched towels and started wrapping Jezebel up in them. The girl had started shivering, her teeth chattering with cold. As Integra got the last towel tucked in, Jezebel's eyes blinked open.

"Where's Alu?" she asked in a voice rough from screaming. "It's so quiet."

Integra paused and cocked her head to listen. It _was_ too quiet. If the fight was still raging, there should be crashes and bangs coming from the pool room. If Alucard had won, he should be _here_.

"Watch her!" Integra rose and Father Mitchell nodded his understanding. The statuesque woman drew the sword on her hip and strode through the door of the locker room. She stopped dead, eyes wide as she spotted Alucard's body crumpled on the other side of the pool.

"No! Damn it, not again!" Integra marched around the edge of the pool and knelt next to the red-clad body. Glancing around in case the demon showed up, she reached out and grasped the vampire's shoulder to roll him over onto his back. A white-gloved hand flopped to the side as his head lolled, surprised red eyes staring at the ceiling.

"Damnit, NO! Alucard! Report! I _demand_ a report!" She grabbed the lapels of his duster, hauling him a few inches up off the ground. His head fell back and his shoulders drooped, supported only by her hold on his coat.

"_Alucaaaard_!"

V^^^V

Alucard's head whipped up as his name echoed through the darkness in Integra's voice. A slow smile spread across his features, blossoming into a wicked grin. He turned to look at Araqiel.

"Play time has been fun, demon, but my master calls. Your mind games cannot touch me. I am a monster! I have no heart to hemorrhage guilt like a breach in a sinking ship!"

Araqiel's snarling face fell, the look of triumph draining from his features.

"But you must! Everything that can love can know guilt, remorse. You _must_ have a heart, a will that can break under the burden of your sins!"

Alucard threw his head back in great guffaws of hilarity. His hand shot out, seizing the demon by the throat. Araqiel scrabbled at the hand, choking on the vampire's grip as the tableau of Integra, Seras and Jezebel disintegrated behind him.

Alucard lifted the demon over his head, laughing until blood tears streamed down his cheeks.

"You forget, demon. I became what I am through sheer force of will! You think to break me, but I will trample you beneath my feet and you will _beg_ for release!"

Araqiel tried to respond, but Alucard's grip closed his throat. With a great, echoing roar, Alucard's mouth opened, jaw unhinged like it belonged on a massive snake and he swallowed the demon down in one gulp.

V^^^V

Integra clutched the red cloth in her hands with knuckles gone pale from the force of her grip. The body of the vampire twitched. The head moved and Alucard seemed to come to life in a heartbeat, his chin tilting down to look at her. An amused smirk twisted his lips and he arched an eyebrow at her.

"You summoned me, my master? I am at your service and await your command."

Integra blinked at him, the beginnings of tears shimmering at the edge of her eyelid. Her expression shifted into a deep scowl and she released him, letting his body collapse back to the floor. Her lips peeled back from her teeth in a snarl of rage.

"Idiot! Don't you _ever_ fail to respond to me again!"

"As you command, my master."

**End note:**

For any who are confused by Alucard's comment about becoming what he is by sheer force of will, I recall when researching vampire myths that there is a story that Dracula became a vampire because he simply _would not_ die. His body gave out, but his soul was so stubborn, it refused to move on and therefore, his body became undead and thus, the vampire was born. I always liked that idea and to me, it fits Alucard, so I'm using that concept. Just a little tidbit I wanted to tack on here at the end.

xVentressx: Lol. I doubt the demons would care. Thank you for your comments and I hope you like the ending. The epilogue will be going up with this chapter, tonight.


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Jezebel snuggled in her blankets, blinking with drowsiness. Between the stress of the twisted foot, the demon possession and the chill she took after the baptism, she had managed to catch a nasty cold.

The door to her room opened and Matheson came in with a silver tray bearing a bowl of chicken noodle soup and apple juice. Jezebel made a face.

"Do I have to?"

"It's good for you, young miss. Especially since you are sick."

Jezebel gave him a suspicious look.

"Where's Alu?"

"In the basement, where he belongs."

The girl narrowed her eyes at the butler's tone. If Alucard _wanted_ to be in the basement, then he belonged there, but she didn't think Matheson meant it that way.

"I want Alu."

"Alucard is a busy…creature. He doesn't have time for sick little girls that don't do as their told."

"Don't I?"

"Alu!"

The vampire in question phased up through the floor on the other side of Jezebel's bed. Matheson straightened up, eyes narrowed. The tray in his hands began a faint rattling and he quickly set it down. Alucard smiled at him, purposely baring his fangs.

"I see. Well, if there is nothing more, young miss? Very good. I'll be going, now." Matheson never gave Jezebel a chance to get a word in edgewise and he sidled toward the door with every word. He bobbed a bow as he finished his spiel and beat feet for the door, back ramrod straight.

Jezebel giggled as the door clicked shut behind the butler.

"You called for me, little master?"

Jezebel bit her lip and gave the vampire a sheepish look. She didn't really need anything from him. She just didn't want _Matheson_ caring for her while she was sick.

Alucard smiled and moved around the bed to sit beside her. He looked over the tray on the bedside table.

"You need to eat."

Jezebel gave the tray a doubtful look, but sighed and reached for it. Alucard beat her to it, lifting the silver platter and setting it on her lap. The girl picked up the bowl and made a face. Alucard arched an expectant eyebrow at her and she started slurping the soup from the edge. The vampire grinned. Her table manners certainly hadn't improved much, although the soup didn't spill down her front this time.

With the soup and juice consumed, Alucard set the tray aside. Sleepy from her meal and the general exhaustion of being sick, Jezebel scooted around until she could lay her head in the vampire's lap. Alucard stroked the hair from her sweaty forehead.

"Your gloves feel good…cool."

Alucard set his palm against her feverish skin and Jezebel sighed contentedly and snuggled in against him. Before long, the girl drifted off to sleep. The vampire watched her breathe and smiled as a soft snore escaped her mouth. Her hand gripped the edge of his duster in her sleep and she clutched it to her chest like a favored stuffed animal. Alucard smoothed a hand down her arm, puzzled at the trust she placed in him, but he had to admit, it appealed to him…almost as much as a good, drag out, bloody brawl.

V^^^V

Deep in a catacomb under Rome, a body shrouded in muslin shifted. A motion sensitive camera whirred to life and set off an alarm in the control room upstairs. Minutes later, a young boy delivered a message to the office of Monsignor Heinkel Wolfe.

The man opened the envelope and his fist closed on the paper in fury. It contained only four words.

"The demon has awakened."

_**The End**_

**End Note:**

And, that's it. I hope everyone has enjoyed this fic. I really loved writing it. I have more fics in this storyline planned, including a series of drabbles. I also have a smaller fic that I'll be putting up based on another writer's stuff on the site here whom I really respect, so keep an eye out.


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